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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28136325">Communication Is Key</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/imafrikinnerd/pseuds/imafrikinnerd'>imafrikinnerd</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Merlin (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Crying, Getting Together, Hurt Merlin (Merlin), Lack of Communication, M/M, Relationship Issues, Same-Sex Marriage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 15:07:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>23,991</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28136325</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/imafrikinnerd/pseuds/imafrikinnerd</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin and Arthur have been happily married for three years when Arthur's job starts to put a strain on their marriage. Arthur's a stubborn prat who doesn't believe in giving up and Merlin just wants his husband back. When Arthur refuses to talk to Merlin about a solution, some things get lost in the telephone lines and Merlin is forced to reconsider their marriage. Will they learn to just talk to each other before it's too late?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>97</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So I've been slowly writing this for months and I'm done with school for a few weeks so I figured I'd post this to encourage me to actually finish it. Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Merlin and Arthur’s relationship did not start with a whirlwind romance. They did not meet eyes and think, “this, this is the one.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In fact, it was more like hate at first sight than love at first sight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin, a waiter at the fancy restaurant Arthur had been dining at, had been hit by a woman in a sparkly red gown who had pushed her chair back as she excused herself to the bathroom, not noticing Merlin with a tray full of soups and an open bottle of red wine right behind her. Of course, with Merlin’s luck, he had lost his balance and dropped the tray of soups all over the blond man seated at the table on Merlin’s other side. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The blond, of course, was outraged that Merlin had “ruined his expensive suit that’s worth more than your life”. Merlin had been incredibly apologetic, and so had the woman in the gown who had caused the fall in the first place. She had even offered to pay for Arthur’s dry cleaning, taking pity on Merlin, who had gotten smaller and smaller and the blond yelled, but the man was insistent that it was Merlin’s fault. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The yelling had attracted the manager, who seemed to want to appease the richest person in the situation, which happened to be the blond man. The incident had ended with Merlin getting a week’s “vacation” without pay. Merlin had pleaded with both the manager and the blond, insisting that he wouldn’t be able to pay his part of the rent without those hours, but the manager wanted to keep Arthur’s business more than he cared about Merin’s plight, and Arthur seemed to lack any sort of human decency at all, and maybe Merlin should’ve thought about that before he dumped soup all over Arthur’s suit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Merlin still had to pay for the dry cleaning. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luckily for Merlin, his roommate, Guinevere, was the forgiving sort and she let Merlin off the hook for part of his rent that month so long as he promised to pay it back next month. He did, of course, even though he skipped more than a few meals to do it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even luckier for Merlin, the woman in the red gown—whose name, Merlin later learned, was Elena—happened to be the daughter of an old family friend of the blond man, and went to the man’s sister to tell her of his abhorrent behavior. His sister, Morgana, apparently read him the riot act, because the first day Merlin was back on the job, he came in and gruffly apologized for what he’d done, and could he perhaps arrange to pay back Merlin’s lost wages. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin, who had found the man very hot now that he wasn’t yelling at him, had told him that he had to return to work, but he could give Merlin a call later, and here’s his number. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It all happened rather quickly after that. Arthur called Merlin and arranged for them to meet up at a high-end cafe (where Arthur paid for the both of them). Merlin realized that under all the pratishness, there was still some charm in there, and he liked that person a lot. Arthur realized that Merlin wasn’t just a clumsy oaf and that he was actually quite smart. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the end, it took Morgana to force them to go out on a proper date together, despite the number of times they’d gone out as friends. She’d gone out with the two of them and realized how much they’d started to like each other and devised a plan. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’d made a bet with Arthur (who really should have learned his lesson about betting with Morgana a long time ago) that she knew he would lose, and if he did, he had to ask Merlin on a date. Arthur had spluttered and denied liking Merlin but Morgana stood firm on her bet. Arthur did, of course, lose, and he asked Merlin out the next day, red-faced and nervous because he did quite like his friendship with Merlin even if it couldn’t have become more. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin agreed as Morgana knew he would, and Merlin and Arthur dated for several years before finally getting married. They lived in one of the large estates the Pendragon family owned in the middle of the countryside, one that had previously been used for vacationing. It was a decent drive from any town with a supermarket (the closest being a half-hour away) with neighbors few and far between, but they loved it. They had a tabby cat named Kilgharrah and a Great Pyrenees called Aithusa, along with a few goats, horses, and chickens. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin, of course, had quit his waiter job when they moved and hadn’t found another job. Arthur liked to joke that he was a stay-at-home-mom for all their animals, to which Merin would stick his tongue out. Indeed, keeping their property running was a full-time job. Merlin insisted on doing it himself and not hiring anyone to do it for him because he was a country boy at heart and there was really no sense in spending extra money on paying someone to do things he was fully capable of doing and very happy to do, as it kept him busy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur usually worked at home, spending the day in their home office and only occasionally going into the city (over two hour’s drive away) when it was necessary. He and Merlin often made a trip out of it, usually staying overnight and shopping for the things they couldn’t get in the smaller towns. They visited Morgana and Arthur’s father as well. They came to visit in the country sometimes, so Merlin and Arthur thought it only fair that they visited when they were in the city as well. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’d purposely chosen the Pendragon property that was closest to where Merlin’s mother lived.  It was still a while away, but it was a short enough drive that Hunith could come down to visit them when she had the time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So Merlin spent most days outside exercising the horses (two of them, a Friesian and a thoroughbred, named Clementine and Marmalade), feeding the animals (four goats and seven chickens), and tending to their small garden. Kilgarrah would often find himself a spot to sit on the fence of whatever pen he was working in at the moment, or otherwise sprawl out near the gate of it to nap. Aithusa liked to try to herd the chickens and goats whenever Merlin allowed her around them. She did stay away from the horses, however. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur’s office was situated on the second floor and the large window gave him a view of their...backyard. Well, where they kept all the animals, anyway. This meant that often times he got distracted watching his husband hauling around bags of feed or ride the horses or almost trip over Kilgharrah. He certainly got more work done when Merlin was in the garden, which Arthur couldn’t see from his office. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>(Arthur didn’t know it, but Merlin loved to look up at the house and see Arthur working. He’d caught Arthur looking at him too many times to count.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin, having grown up with Hunith for a mother, was a brilliant cook, so he usually made all three meals, humming and dancing around the kitchen with ease. On the occasion Arthur tried to make Merlin breakfast in bed, or deliver him lunch outside, Merlin gave him a big smile and took it, trying not to wince at how burnt, under or overcooked, or poorly seasoned it was. He loved Arthur with all his heart, but the man could not cook to save his life. Still, he appreciated the thought. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur, of course, knew his cooking was terrible. He just wanted to see how badly he could fuck up scrambled eggs and toast before Merlin either refused to eat it or gave him a basic cooking lesson. He had clearly underestimated Merlin’s neverending patience, though, because he had set off the fire alarm with his burnt toast several times and gotten probably half an eggshell in the eggs and Merlin still ate it without complaint. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After three years of marriage, they lived a quite domestic and calm life. They flowed around each other with ease, almost reading each other’s minds sometimes. If Merlin was looking for the sunscreen, Arthur was already digging it out from under the sink where he’d seen Merlin put it the day before. If Arthur couldn’t find the tie he needed for the video call he was to attend that day, Merlin had it in his hand before Arthur could ask if he’d seen it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>On the weekends, when Arthur didn’t have work but Merlin still needed to be out in the yard, Arthur pulled on some old jeans and a t-shirt to go out and help. They almost always rode the horses around the expansive property on Saturdays, and sometimes Sundays, too. Arthur usually rode Clementine, the thoroughbred, while Merlin rode Marmalade. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They had visitors fairly often, usually at least once a week. Of course, Morgana came, as did Uther and Hunith. Arthur and Merlin’s group of friends were over a lot between all of them, and usually all of them made the trip out to the estate together once a month. But for the most part, Merlin and Arthur were around each other and the animals full time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur and Merlin bickered like there was no tomorrow. There were a few vicious fights that ended up with one of them going to sleep in the guest bedroom for a night or two. Those were mostly caused because for all the time they spent around each other, they never seemed to actually talk. Once they did, the issue was resolved and they were back to a loving couple in no time. None of those fights had resulted in the threat of breaking up or, later, divorce. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was, of course, inevitable that one day they would have a spat so bad that one of them broke out the d-word. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Arthur grumbled when Merlin slid out of bed to get his day started, an hour and a half before Arthur was ever up. Merlin technically didn’t need to get up this early, his work didn’t actually take all day, but he always wanted the worst of it over before the afternoon heat hit and the sun was unbearable. Besides, he was always up and so were the dogs, so there was no point in lazing about in bed waiting for Arthur. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin got dressed, slipping out the back door and finding the bags of feed for the chickens and dogs. He walked around, making sure all the water troughs were full and clean enough. He went around to feed the goats and horses before he checked the time and saw that he had plenty of time to check the horse stalls, seeing what needed to be mucked out and putting fresh straw down where it was needed before he’d head inside to make breakfast. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin hummed a song he’d had stuck in his head the whole morning while he made toast, omelettes, and bacon. Arthur was usually downstairs by the time Merlin finished making breakfast, so he didn’t worry about waking him up. Arthur had been in a pissy mood lately, something to do with a big, several-month-long project at work that wasn’t going well. So Arthur would probably be extra grumpy this morning, but Merlin had long ago figured out how to counteract Arthur’s moods. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>(The secret was usually to be so cheery that Arthur commented on it and then Merlin pried the real issue out of him so that they could work together to resolve it. It worked nine times out of ten, Merlin tested and approved.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just as Merlin was buttering the toast, Arthur meandered in, shirtless, and plopped down in one of the chairs at their breakfast bar. He looked tired and drawn. Merlin stopped humming long enough to greet his husband for the morning. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good morning, sleepyhead. I’m just about finished with breakfast, you got in here right on time!” Merlin smiled sunnily at Arthur, who just scowled. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Morning,” he grunted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin frowned as he made of their plates and poured them some orange juice. Arthur usually wasn’t that grumpy, even on a bad day. He made a point of having the first thing he said to Merlin every morning be positive and loving, something about how his father had that rule with his mother and it made their marriage that much happier. He put it out of his mind for the moment and gave Arthur his plate as he sat down next to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’ve you got planned for today?” Merlin asked, trying to draw Arthur out a bit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That bloody project, plus the million other things I’m meant to do today. I don’t know how I can get it all done with bloody Alator screwing everything up. I’ve spent more time fixing his mistakes than I have actually making progress on it!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tell Alator to screw off so you can get it done, then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur huffed. “If I could, I would have done it the third time he completely bollocksed up the expense reports, but he’s on the board and I can’t boot him off the project without the board’s approval and they seem to like him and I doubt I could get them to do it. Plus, he’d go crying to them if I tried to do it unofficially.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s nothing else to be done?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing except for cleaning up after his mess.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin reached out to rub his hand up and down Arthur’s arm. It worked wonders to calm Arthur down...usually. Today, he shrugged Merlin off. Deciding that perhaps Arthur just needed to be left alone for now, Merlin finished his breakfast in silence. When Arthur finished, he grabbed their plates and loaded them into the dishwasher.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was thinking about trimming some of the hedges out front today,” Merlin tried, seeing if he could provoke Arthur into conversation again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur grunted, looking at his phone. Actually, Merlin wasn’t even sure he was listening. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was also thinking about taking out the entire garden and replacing it with an orchard.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur grunted again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you don’t mind, I thought I might paint the house neon pink today as well. With neon green trim. And yellow polka dots.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur grunted. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Arthur!” Merlin yelled. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Arthur looked startled. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You haven’t been paying attention to anything I’ve just said, have you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Er, you were gonna do something to the garden, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin sighed. “Arthur, we barely see each other as it is, with you cooped up in your office working all the time. When we are together, you’re always on your phone, doing something for work. I know you’re busy right now, but leave your work in your office, </span>
  <em>
    <span>please</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, Merls. It’s just this project—” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t give a damn about your project, Arthur! It’s taking over your life, it’s taking over </span>
  <em>
    <span>our </span>
  </em>
  <span>lives. That needs to stop. I want you to be with me when we’re together, not just next to me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur took a deep breath. “Okay. I promise I’ll try to get better about leaving my work in the office.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“You have to do more than try, Arthur, or—,” Merlin was cut off by Arthur’s phone ringing. “Arthur, do not answer that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur glanced at the caller ID, looked up at Merlin glaring at him, winced, and answered it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin huffed. “I cannot believe you,” he muttered, turning to go collect his gardening stuff from the mudroom before heading outside. He grabbed the hedge trimmers from the garage and went out to the very front of their property to do just as he’d said he would. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin focused on trimming the hedges instead of thinking about his argument with Arthur. He put some wireless earbuds in, ones he always kept with his gardening kit. It was easier to get lost in his music than to think about anything else. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wasn’t sure how long he was out there for—he’d trimmed all the hedges in front and had moved on to some of the different bushes in his garden, both fruit-bearing and decorative. He was just tying up the second bag of clippings when he saw Arthur emerging from the house, heading toward him. Arthur was dressed now, and Merlin didn’t see his phone. It could’ve been in his pocket, but at least it wasn’t attached to his hand like it had been for the last few weeks, ever since that bloody project started. Merlin paused his music and took his earbuds out, letting Arthur come to him and speak first. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur looked at him silently for a moment before quietly asking, “Are you going to come in for lunch? You’ve been out here all morning and it didn’t look like you were planning to stop anytime soon.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin frowned and checked the time on his phone, surprised to find that it was nearly 12:30. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. I didn’t notice the time. Let’s go.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As they walked back, Arthur tried to twine his hand with Merlin’s, but Merin pulled back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m still mad at you,” Merlin muttered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merlin, we’ll talk about it when we’re inside and we’ve gotten something to eat, yeah?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was Merlin’s turn to grunt. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they got into the kitchen and washed up, Merlin made some simple sandwiches and got some crisps out. He plopped Arthur’s plate in front of him a little harder than he usually did. Arthur must’ve noticed, because he winced. They ate in silence, the occasional chirp from Arthur’s phone—it must’ve been in his pocket—the only sound in the room. When Arthur was picking at the crumbs of his crisps, his phone started ringing with a phone call. He pulled it out of his pocket. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Arthur—,” Merlin started.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m only silencing it! I wasn’t going to answer.” Arthur defended himself as he put his phone on “do not disturb”. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin sat back, content with that solution, before finishing off the last bite of his sandwich and the last few crisps. He went to grab their plates, but Arthur beat him to it and loaded them into the dishwasher himself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“All right, Arthur. You wanted to talk about this, so why don’t you start.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just...I don’t know, Merlin. I’ve been under so much stress lately and my work has been demanding more and more out of me, and with this project going on I barely have enough time to get everything done, and it’s all so important so I can’t risk messing anything up, and I...apologize for not spending any time with you recently. I promise, as soon as I have a smaller workload, I’ll take a few days off and we can go ride the horses and play with Aithusa as long as we want.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And when will you have a smaller workload? You said this project is going to take months and it’s barely been one. If your work keeps giving you more stuff to do, then it sounds like you’ll always have too much to do and not enough time to spend with your </span>
  <em>
    <span>husband</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know, Merlin. A lot of it is taking more time than it should because I work from home. Communication is slower and I get distracted more easily at home.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’ve managed just fine for over three years, Arthur. Has this been a problem the whole time and you haven’t said anything, or is it only now becoming a problem?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Those factors have affected my work ethic since I started working from home, yes, but it’s never become an actual issue until recently—this project.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin sat back and took a deep breath. “All right. I understand that you’re stressed. I understand that Alator is a pillock who doesn’t know his right hand from his left. But you cannot let your frustrations with your work affect our relationship this much. And you have to stop being on your phone all the time whenever you’re not in the office. It has to stop, Arthur, do you understand?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know Merlin. I promise I’ll try to do better, like I said this morning.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right before you picked up your phone in the middle of a serious conversation?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry about that, Merlin, it was one of the board of directors calling me and I know that’s no excuse but it was important.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin pursed his lips and said nothing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merls, are we okay?” Arthur asked, looking anxious. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin took a big breath and took Arthur’s hands in his. “We’re fine, Arthur. But keep your work in your office from now on, yeah?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank god. I really am sorry that my work has become such an issue. I’ll fix it, I promise.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin smiled as Arthur rounded the table to give him a kiss. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, Merls. I have to get back to work now, but I’ll try as hard as I can to be done early tonight so we can have some time together, yeah?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That sounds great, Arthur.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With that, Arthur left the kitchen. Merlin sat there only a moment more before exiting through another door to get back outside to finish trimming everything. It was therapeutic work and Merlin thoroughly enjoyed it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was finished with all the bushes by mid-afternoon, so he decided he could exercise the horses for a while before he needed to go in. As he was getting the tack he needed out, he glanced up to the window of Arthur’s office. He couldn’t see Arthur right away, which was odd because Arthur sat right in front of the window. Thinking Arthur might’ve gone to the bathroom, Merlin shrugged it off and finished his task. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Later, though, a little closer to the house, Merlin noticed that he couldn’t see Arthur because he was facing away from the window. In the three years they’d lived here, Arthur had always had his computer in front of the window because he loved looking outside. Why would he suddenly change that?</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Eventually it was time for Merlin to head inside and start dinner. He set out food for Killgharrah and Aithusa and locked up anything he’d been messing in before going inside. He decided on a simple pasta for dinner. He wasn’t in the mood for anything more complicated. Plus, they had a store of premade fettuccine for days when Merlin wasn’t up for making something from scratch. He’d only need to make the sauce. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Half an hour later, he’d dished everything up and was waiting for Arthur to come downstairs. When it was five minutes after Arthur was usually tucking into his dinner and there was still no sign of him, Merlin went up to his office. Normally he disliked having to fetch Arthur for dinner but he figured he’d have to drag the man away from his computer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Arthur,” Merlin said, reaching the open door to his husband’s office. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur held up a finger, the other hand holding a phone to his ear. Merlin leant on the door frame as he watched Arthur finish his conversation and hang up. “Dinner’s ready.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks, Merls,” Arthur said, typing something on his computer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought you said you were going to be done early tonight,” Merlin said tiredly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I said I’d try,” Arthur said, rubbing his hand over his face. “Then I got an email about some other project that I wasn’t even involved in and now apparently I am and I couldn’t get out of it so I had even more to do today than I thought.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You couldn’t even manage to be on time for dinner?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry. I got a call right as I was about to go down and technically I was still on the clock so I had to answer it in case something was wrong and it took a lot longer than I thought it would.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right. Well, if you don’t come down now dinner’s going to get cold. Might already be, honestly.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur nodded, clicking a few things, then shut his computer off and stood to follow Merlin downstairs. Merlin was right, the pasta was lukewarm, but they ate it anyway, in silence. Arthur again collected the plates and put them in the dishwasher. When they left the kitchen, Merlin turned to go into the living room while Arthur made to go up the stairs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin caught his arm, asking, “You’re not going back to work, are you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If I don’t do more work tonight, I’m going to be even more behind tomorrow and there’ll be no chance of me being able to finish early any time soon.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin dropped Arthur’s arm and let him go upstairs. He felt tears start to prickle at his eyes. He knew Arthur’s job was important and he made lots of money from it that allowed Merlin to work with his animals and plants all day, but he wished that it didn’t take his husband away from him so much. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It had been great when Arthur had first started doing it from home. Arthur was available to him at all times and they took advantage of that in their newlywed state. But once Arthur’s company started to realize that Arthur could be available to them at all times, too, they started giving him more to do and Arthur was increasingly glued to his phone and computer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>In fact, if Merlin was honest, it had been bothering him for months, almost a year really, how much Arthur was on his phone or computer or in his office. When they’d first moved in, they spent nearly every evening curled up on the couch watching a movie or reading together or playing a board game or doing something, anything, </span>
  <em>
    <span>together</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin wasn’t sure he could remember the last time they’d done that and Arthur hadn’t to stop and answer a call or text. Hell, he was pretty sure they hadn’t done anything together in the evenings for a week or more. He’d been letting it go for a while because it always seemed to stress Arthur out and he didn’t want to add to it, but it was properly upsetting him now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Deciding he couldn’t do anything about it without provoking another argument he wasn’t up for, Merlin decided to just get ready for bed, despite it being only seven. He showered, brushed his teeth, and slid into bed in a pair of sleep trousers. It was almost eight now, but he wasn’t tired enough to sleep just yet, so he read for a while. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he heard the shower turn on, Merlin put his book down, checking the time. Almost ten. He didn’t want to fight with Arthur about working so late tonight, deciding instead to try to go to sleep, or at least feign sleep once Arthur got into bed. Arthur always took long showers, so Merlin figured he’d have time to actually fall asleep. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As it turned out, he had just barely fallen asleep when Arthur entered the room, sighed heavily, and crawled into bed next to Merlin. Merlin woke up—just barely enough for him to be aware—when Arthur cuddled up behind him and slipped an arm around Merlin’s waist, dragging him back to be flush against his chest. Merlin’s chest hurt as he realized they hadn’t slept like this since they were practically newlyweds. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He couldn’t even remember why—they’d slept like that all the time before they were married and for a while after. Perhaps it was because they never went to bed at the same time anymore and neither took the initiative to do what Arthur had just done and do it even when the other was asleep. Tears burned Merlin’s eyes again but he didn’t dare cry, lest he accidentally make Arthur realize he’d woken Merlin up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The way things were, their marriage was headed for disaster. They may have realized that they needed to talk to each other if something was bothering them after a few fights, but that didn’t mean that they always did. They needed to have a serious conversation, more than the one they’d had today about Arthur’s work. Merlin drifted off to sleep thinking about it all. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Forgot to upload a chapter yesterday...whoops...</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>When Merlin woke the next morning, he was expecting Arthur to be asleep. Arthur wasn’t in the bed, though, and he certainly wasn’t wrapped around Merlin as he’d been last night. Merlin frowned. He couldn’t remember the last time Arthur had been up and out of bed before Merlin. And he was pretty sure that had been one of Arthur’s attempts to make Merlin breakfast in bed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He got up, wondering if perhaps Arthur was going to try to apologize to him by making breakfast. He’d done it before. He couldn’t smell burnt anything as he got up to use the toilet, but that could just mean that it wasn’t burnt yet. He washed his hands and started walking toward the kitchen. He couldn’t smell food cooking at all, actually. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin didn’t usually pass by Arthur’s office on the way from the bedroom to the kitchen, but he had a feeling he knew why it didn’t smell like anything had been cooked. Sure enough, Arthur was in his office, facing away from the window, picking at a muffin and sipping a rather large cup of coffee as he typed away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Arthur,” Merlin said imploringly as he took in the scene, even though he wasn’t sure what he was imploring. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur’s head snapped up. “What?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is ridiculous. You can’t start work at five in the bloody morning! You were working until nearly ten last night. If you need to work for practically fifteen hours a day, because I’m sure you’ll stay up just as late tonight, you either need a raise or less work. A bit of distraction and slower communication from working at home should add two hours to your workday, max, not seven!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A raise wouldn’t make you happy, Merlin, and I can’t ask for less work. Technically all of this is part of my job and I’m the only one who can do this in the company, so it all falls to me. I know it’s a lot, but I’m sure it’ll slow down after a while.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How long is a while?”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“A few months, up to a year? I’m not sure.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you’re expecting me to be okay with not being able to spend any time with my husband for up to a year? Arthur, that’s not fair.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know it’s not, Merlin, but what can I do?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You could quit. You may have worked there for a long time, Arthur, but it’s never made you happy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur looked startled that Merlin would suggest that. “I can’t quit, Merlin. My family might be rich but I won’t live off my father and we have too many expenses to keep everything the way it is for more than a few months with neither of us working.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“For god’s sake, Arthur, I’m not suggesting you stop working forever. I’m sure you could find a decent stay-at-home job before our savings run out. And besides, you know your father would love to throw his money at us if we needed a little boost while you’re looking for a new job. He wants you to be happy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just—I can’t quit, Merlin, that’s absurd. I’ll stick it out for a while and if I can’t handle the workload, I’ll talk to my boss. Okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know why you won’t just quit. But fine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin left the room and Arthur had the feeling Merlin was going to be very upset with him for a while. And honestly, he wasn’t entirely sure why he wouldn’t quit either. He wanted to stick it out, to prove he could handle it when the going got tough. Perhaps this time it was better to just throw in the towel. He’d think about it, maybe look at other job opportunities. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin went back to the bedroom to get dressed before beheading outside for his usual pre-breakfast chores. It was soothing to do something he could do automatically. It wasn’t necessarily repetitive, but it came to him easily and he enjoyed it. He glanced at Arthur’s office window a few times, not quite sure why Arthur’s decision to stop being able to look outside was bothering him so much. He knew he was probably one of the distractions Arthur faced working at home, but he hadn’t thought it was bad enough to warrant not being able to see him altogether. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still, he swallowed the lump in his throat and got on with his morning. He made himself—he hadn’t made breakfast for one for years—some simple eggs and toast. He was washing his plate off when Arthur came into the kitchen and looked around, frowning. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you need something?” Merlin asked, not unkindly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I...have you not made breakfast yet?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought you’d already eaten.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur looked bewildered. “What do you mean?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You were eating a muffin earlier. I assumed that was your breakfast.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You always make breakfast. I was just hungry when I got up. I thought you’d still make something for breakfast.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you want me to make something for you now?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No...I’ll get something for myself.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright,” Merlin said, making his way to the back door. He pulled his phone out and texted Gwen. It was early, but perhaps it was early enough that Gwen had time to stop for a chat. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Can u call?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t usually ask to call out of the blue at such weird times, so hopefully, Gwen would realize something was up and call him. Sure enough, a moment later his phone started vibrating and he picked up the call immediately. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He greeted Gwen and then hurried into their barn-of-sorts—aka where the horse’s stalls were and where they kept all the animal feed and straw. It had a loft that was very nice for hiding in when one was making a call to their best friend to fret about their marriage. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merlin, is everything alright?” Gwen asked. Merlin didn’t answer her, so she repeated the question. She was just starting to ask if he could hear her when he finally reached the loft and answered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t—I don’t know what’s wrong, Gwen. It’s Arthur and his work and it feels like it’s driving a wedge between us and I don’t know what to do.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin started crying a little, alarming Gwen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s wrong? What’s happened with Arthur’s work?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s ju—just working s—so much a—and we don’t s—spend a—ny time together anymo—ore,” Merlin hiccuped through the whole sentence, all his frustration and sadness from the last few months finally coming out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merlin, I can’t really understand you, I’m sorry. Take a minute and breathe, okay? It’s probably not as bad as it seems, yeah?” Gwen continued to coo comforting words while Merlin tried to collect himself again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It took a few minutes, but eventually, he was calm enough to explain what was wrong to Gwen, who was immediately sympathetic. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I told him he could quit and he just flat out refused to. Apparently, he just couldn’t quit and we couldn’t survive for more than a few months with all the animals. A few months is enough time for him to find a job that doesn’t make him or me miserable. And if it takes longer than that, his father has the money to float us while Arthur looks for a job and he wouldn’t hesitate to help us if it meant we were happier so long as Arthur was planning to get back to work eventually.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, Merlin. If Arthur won’t talk to his boss or quit, I don’t think there’s anything you can do except to continue to make it clear how much this is affecting you. Arthur’s always had a soft spot for you, I’m sure he’ll come ‘round if you show him it’s hurting you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That would be great if he were ever around enough for him to see. He comes out of his office for meals and that’s it. This morning I woke up and he was already in his office.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin continued to explain the deal with Arthur coming down for breakfast and Gwen frowned. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You two need to talk, Merlin. This can’t be solved by your usual route of ignoring everything until it explodes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know, Gwen, and I’ve tried talking to him but it hasn’t gone anywhere.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I really don’t know what to tell you then, Merlin. It seems like it’s up to Arthur at this point.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is it bad to say that I’m afraid that’s true?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe. But reasonable, I think, at this point.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good lord. It’s all such a mess and I just want my marriage back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’ll get it, Merlin. Everything will be fine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks, Gwen. You’re probably late for work at this point, I’m sorry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, shit! I am! Talk to you later, Merlin!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bye—,” Merlin was cut off by the chime of the call ending. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wiped the tears from his cheeks and took a steadying breath. Everything would work out just fine. But he didn’t really want to be all alone for the whole day, and there were things that needed to be done, as always. He called his mum to see if perhaps she could make the trip. As it turned out, she had nothing going for the day, nor for tomorrow, so she could be there before midday and even spend most of the next day. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks, mum,” Merlin said quietly when Hunith said she’d leave shortly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s wrong, Merlin?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing, mum. I just don’t want to be all alone today.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, what’s Arthur doing? Can’t he help out?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Arthur’s got work,” Merlin said in a tight voice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Surely he could take a break?”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“He won’t, even if he could. He’s really busy right now so he’s been working a lot.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I’ll be over as soon as I can. And I’ll bring some of my baking things, we can make something.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, mum. I’ll see you later. Love you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love you, too, Merlin.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Merlin hung up and climbed down from the loft. He saddled Marmalade and took her for a long ride around the estate. It was calming to feel the familiar gaits underneath him, the rocking and bouncing and long strides. He’d grown up riding horses because the village he lived in was essentially a rural farming town, so he’d learnt from his mum on their horses. There were actually only two crop farms, but almost everyone who lived there had at least a few animals, and most raised sheep or cows or the like. Merlin’s mum and uncle Gaius had bred horses when he was little, selling them to people in town and to some of the richer folks in nearby cities and towns. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t incredibly profitable, given that most of their funds were spent on taking care of the horses, but it was enough to make a living off of. Both Hunith and Gaius had gotten too old to handle the work of raising the horses eventually and Merlin was too young to be able to do it by himself, so they sold off a lot of their land and most of the horses, keeping only a few for Merlin. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>(One of them was Clementine who was practically still a foal at the time but loved Merlin. Arthur and Merlin had purchased Marmalade when they’d moved in.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hunith and Gaius weren’t making much money after that, mostly living off of what they’d gotten when they'd sold everything and doing work for the neighbors. That was why Merlin moved to the city, to stop being a burden on his family and to hopefully start to support them. Of course, it didn’t work out like he planned, given the lack of higher education and his skill set being useless in the city. Still, he’d met Arthur so he didn’t regret it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Since then, Gaius had passed away and his mother had started a bakery business she ran out of her home. She’d even hired two of the village kids to do out of town deliveries for her. It wasn’t especially profitable but she could live on it, especially since she was down to only two horses after Merlin took Marmalade and another died. Plus, it made her happy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eventually he made his way back towards the house. It was nearly eleven, so his mother should be there soon. Sure enough, soon after he’d cooled Marmalade down, untacked and brushed her, and put her back in the pasture, Merlin heard a truck rumbling down the road. He hurried through the house and got to the front door just in time to see his mum’s truck pull in. He waited for her to get out before rushing over and wrapping her in a hug. It had been too long since he’d seen his mum. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve missed you,” Merlin said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve missed you, too, Merlin. Now, come help me with my things.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It turned out that Hunith had brought half her kitchen with her, plus a load of things she’d already made. Merlin complained that he and Arthur would never be able to eat it all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nonsense, Merlin. Besides, you could always bring some to Arthur’s family.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin set her overnight bag in one of the guest rooms and found his mum in the kitchen setting up her equipment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now, my dear, have you had lunch yet?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I hadn't started anything before you got here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Great! Why don’t you grab that bowl for me…” Hunith started on instructions and ingredients and it was all Merlin could do to keep up. He didn’t even realize he’d forgotten to tell Arthur his mum was there until he was putting their lunch in the oven and turned around to find Arthur standing there looking at the mess they’d made. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, Arthur! I was wondering when you’d come say hi!” Hunith exclaimed as she went to give Arthur a hug. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I would’ve come down sooner if I’d known you were coming,” Arthur said slowly, looking at Merlin questioningly as he hugged Hunith back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merlin!” Hunith chastised, turning back to her son. “You didn’t tell him I was coming?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I forgot, I was out with Marmalade all morning after I called you and I didn’t get a chance to tell him before you got here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right,” Arthur said. “Well, I assume you two have been working on lunch?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re having shepherd's pie, but it won’t be ready for a while, so why don’t you help us—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can go back to work, Arthur. It’s fine.” Merlin cut across Hunith. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nonsense, Merlin, I’m sure Arthur could spend some time helping. Right, Arthur?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What Arthur’s answer might have been, they would never know, as Arthur’s phone chose that moment to go off. Arthur checked it and excused himself with an apology to answer it. Merlin’s jaw clenched for a moment as he looked at Arthur’s retreating back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now what was that all about, Merlin? You don’t tell your own husband your mother is coming, you tell him to go back to work instead of spending time with his favorite mother-in-law, and now you look like you’re about to yell at him for answering the phone.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s nothing, mum. Just leave it alone for now, please?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your marital problems may be between you and Arthur, but you always tell him I’m coming and he’s never said no to helping me cook something, so what is wrong?”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“He’s just been working a lot more than usual. He’s really busy right now and he doesn’t seem to have any time to spend with family, so I told him he could go back to work so he didn’t have to feel bad about telling you no.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How do you know he would’ve said no?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s always getting calls and having to do things for work. Even if he’d said yes he would’ve left soon anyway.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hunith frowned but seemed to accept it, for which Merlin was grateful. They started on making some different pies and cookies while the shepherd’s pie was still cooking. When it was done, they pulled it out and replaced it with the deserts, then called Arthur downstairs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They all tucked into their food with Hunith doing most of the talking, catching the two of them up on what had been happening with her business and all the small-town gossip. Inevitably, though, she ran out of things to say about herself and started asking them things. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Arthur, how’s your father and Morgana?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re good. Morgana visited last week with a few other friends and she seemed pretty happy. I spoke with my father a few days ago and he seems well.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Good. How has work been?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin looked away and Arthur hesitated before answering, glancing at Merlin. “It’s been very busy. Lots to do. Uh, I’m working on a few projects now, interesting stuff.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hunith studied both men before abruptly changing the subject to what they were going to do for the rest of her stay. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I took Marmalade out for a long ride this morning, mum, but Clementine hasn’t been exercised yet. We could go out for a ride this afternoon, then you could help me in the garden? I trimmed everything yesterday but I think there’s a few things that need to be picked and there’s always weeds to pull.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hunith frowned. “You’ve only two horses, though. What will Arthur do?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sure he has to work, mum.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hunith turned toward Arthur, who looked guiltily at the table before saying, “Unfortunately he’s right, Hunith. I’d love to spend the afternoon with you both, but I really am too busy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hunith looked sad for a moment before popping up and telling Merlin to help her get the first of the pies and cookies out of the oven. While they were doing that, Arthur slipped out of the room. Merlin and his mum cleaned up and chatted while they waited for the rest of the deserts to finish cooking. When they were done Merlin started the dishwasher and left everything cooling on the counter while he and his mum went out for a ride. It wasn’t as hard a ride as he’d had this morning, but it was refreshing and fun. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>As promised, Merlin and Hunith worked in the garden for a few hours before Merlin checked the time and realized it was time for them to start dinner. They cleaned up quickly and made Hunith’s delicious chicken mac ‘n cheese, which had been one of Merlin’s favorites as a child and which Merlin had never been able to get quite right. Arthur loved it too, the dish being much more informal than anything he’d ever had as a child.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur didn’t need to be called down this time and came in right as Hunith turned off the stove. They ate together again, a bit more quiet than lunch, and Arthur excused himself before Hunith could pressure him into eating lots of desserts. </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“It’s nearly seven, Arthur. Are you still working?” Hunith questioned incredulously. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve had to work late for quite a few nights, recently. As I said earlier, I’ve got a lot to do,” Arthur explained, then he left. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hunith was frowning properly now. Merlin dished them each up some apple pie and set a plate down in front of his mother. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How long has that been going on?” Hunith asked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Merlin tried to avoid talking about it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Arthur working late. Actually, it seems like he’s only been eating, sleeping, and working. He looks tired.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He woke up early this morning to start work. I thought it meant he’d be able to stop earlier tonight and spend some time with us, but apparently not.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Have you—,” Hunith started to say before Merlin cut her off. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I’ve talked to him. We fought about it yesterday. He won’t tell his boss he’s got too much to do, he won’t quit, he won’t even ask for a raise so he can be compensated for all the extra work he’s been doing!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Perhaps you could talk to his father or Morgana. Maybe they could talk some sense into him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think he’d appreciate me talking to his family behind his back to get them to gang up on him with me. It’d probably just make everything worse.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you think this is temporary, or will it just get worse?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know, mum. I hope it’s temporary, but there’s not much I can do if it’s not except continue to tell him to quit or stand up for himself.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not good for either of you for him to be working this much.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know. But short of me divorcing him, the cards are in his hands. He’s the only one who has the power to change anything right now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well. Let’s just hope Arthur comes to his senses, then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. It’s still quite early, why don’t we watch a movie before bed?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hunith agreed and went out to find a movie to watch while Merlin cleaned up, unloading and loading the dishwasher and putting all the pies in the fridge. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They ended up watching some random chick flick on Netflix, laughing and making fun of the plot holes. Sometime around nine, when they were about a fourth of the way through a second movie, Arthur came down and settled down next to Merlin, trying to put his arm over Merlin’s shoulder to pull him against his side, but Merlin shrugged him off and leaned against the back of the couch instead. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hunith seemed happy to see him, though, so Merlin supposed he could appreciate that Arthur came down at all, even if it was really late. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When the movie was over an hour later, Hunith made her way to her room, and Merlin and Arthur made their way to theirs. Merlin got in the shower and Arthur said he had a few things to check for work, noticing Merlin’s little head shake. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It turned out that his few things to check had turned into a few things to fix and a few emails to send, so Merlin was in bed by the time Arthur got back. Arthur took what was quite possibly the fastest shower of his life before getting dressed and getting into bed. He was pretty sure Merlin was feigning sleep because his breathing wasn’t quite right and he looked too stiff. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know you’re awake, Merlin.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin rolled over to face him. “Well, I am now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why did you invite your mum without telling me?” Arthur asked tiredly.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Like I said this morning, I just forgot. I wanted someone to spend today with and it’s Friday so everyone else had to work. Plus, you love my mum, I didn’t think you’d have a problem with it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t, but I would’ve liked you to have told me so I could’ve maybe said hi when she got here and plan for spending some time with her instead of looking like an arse because I kept having to go back to work.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I only invited her this morning, and if you’re so busy that you’ve pretty much stopped doing anything but working and eating in your waking hours then I doubt you could’ve cleared your schedule that quickly. And it’s not my fault you have so much work that you can’t adjust for a surprise visit and end up looking like an arse because of it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not fair, Merlin. It’s my job, I have to do it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I keep telling you, Arthur. You </span>
  <em>
    <span>don’t </span>
  </em>
  <span>have to do it. You can quit. You can stand up for yourself and tell your boss that it’s a ridiculous amount of work. Fuck it, we could move back to the city and have both of us working again. Your stupid job is not worth it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t just quit. Stay-at-home jobs are hard to come by and there’s not many for what I have experience in.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then I guess you should start looking, then, shouldn’t you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why do you want me to find a new job so badly? What if the next job turns out the exact same?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then I’ll tell you to quit and find another one. You’re miserable, I’m miserable, we’re both miserable. You cannot expect me to accept that your job is running our lives and not try to fix it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not, Merlin. Like I’ve said, I doubt it will be like this forever. Just give it a bit of time and it will work itself out.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin’s eyes shone with tears and he turned around again, giving his back to Arthur. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merlin…” Arthur sighed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stop, Arthur, or I’m going to find another bed to sleep in.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur gave up and decided that this wasn’t the time to push his luck. Merlin was an angel most of the time and properly upsetting him was hard, but when it happened Merlin was a force to be reckoned with. Arthur had faced Merlin’s fiery temper before and he had decided he never wanted to be on the receiving end of it again. He went to sleep. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Merlin woke up and found himself alone in their bed again. He was mildly impressed that Arthur had managed to get up without waking him two mornings in a row, but it was also Saturday so there was absolutely no reason for Arthur to be up early. Unless Arthur was now working all day on weekends as well, now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin got up and went about his morning as usual. Unlike Arthur, Merlin had to be up because there were animals to feed and water and care for. He was looking forward to whatever his mum would make for breakfast. Hunith always made them breakfast when she stayed at theirs or they stayed at hers, and it was always delicious. Maybe she’d even make some pastries. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Arthur got up early to work again, hoping he could stop after breakfast to spend some time with his mother-in-law. He’d just opened up the documents and programs he needed when he heard a knock on his office door. He assumed it must’ve been Hunith since Merlin wouldn’t have knocked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come in!” He called.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Arthur, darling, could I speak to you for a moment?” Hunith asked, opening the door and coming further into the room. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course,” Arthur replied, dread pooling in his gut. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re working rather early. And on the weekend, too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s necessary. I thought I’d get something done before breakfast so I could spend the rest of the morning with you and Merlin.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But you’ll have to do some more after I leave?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Most likely.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hunith looked at his desk confusedly for a moment. “Did you move your desk? Didn’t it used to face the window?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I moved it the day before yesterday, actually. I thought i could get more work done if I wasn’t distracted by what’s outside.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know,” Hunith said thoughtfully, “I remember Merlin once telling me he sometimes caught you looking at him out the window and it always made him happy to know that you were paying attention to him even when you didn’t know he could see you doing it. He said it was the little things that make everything better.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur swallowed. “I didn’t know he saw me doing it so often.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Anyway. Arthur, why are you doing this to yourselves?”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Doing what?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re making both of you miserable. He called me because he didn’t want to be alone. He feels alone, Arthur, and he doesn’t know what to do. I know you’re the stubborn type, but you’re going to lose him if you keep up like this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?” Arthur asked, fighting back tears. Merlin hadn’t been so blunt, but he knew Hunith wasn’t wrong. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merlin loves you, Arthur, but he’s not going to put up with being your second priority when your first is your job. He may not go so far as to threaten to divorce you yet, but if you keep this up you’re going to wake up one day and wonder when you married a stranger.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not going to go that far,” Arthur protested, paling at the thought of divorce. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think you see what this is doing to him. When you were first married, you spent every waking hour together. You started working more and Merlin started to spend more time outside, but your evenings and weekends were spent together. Now, you eat meals together and perhaps go to sleep together on occasion. That’s not a marriage, Arthur, and it’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>not working</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know what you want me to do, Hunith.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I believe Merlin has already told you exactly what you need to do. It’s up to you to fix it, or you’ll break both your hearts.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur nodded miserably. Hunith thought that perhaps something had finally got through to him and he’d start to listen to what Merlin had been telling him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m going to go start some breakfast. Do you have any requests?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Er, no, nothing specific.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hunith nodded and left. Arthur looked back at his computer. He looked blankly at the documents for a moment, then closed them. He opened up Google and started looking for jobs. What he’d told Merlin was true, there weren’t many positions available for working from home for his job position. But the job market was lacking in people qualified to do it and Arthur was damn good at his job. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>If he started looking now, perhaps he could quit and have a new job lined up in time to save his marriage. He’d surprise Merlin with the new job as soon as he got it and quit on the spot. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It took Arthur less time than he’d thought to find a stay-at-home vacancy. He applied immediately, taking a few moments to update his resume with his current job. He had to search a while longer before he found another, applying for that one as well. He’d research the companies and the details of the positions he applied for later, but it wouldn’t hurt to get his foot in the door of anything he was even tangentially qualified for. He glanced at the little clock at the bottom of his computer screen and realized he’d been on his computer for far longer than he’d meant to be. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hunith and Merlin were likely more than a few minutes into breakfast at this point. Arthur winced. This wasn’t going to help Merlin’s conviction that Arthur’s job was ruining their lives. But they’d only have to deal with it for as long as it took for Arthur to get hired at a company that he felt was better than this one...which would probably be just about any company, given the semi-prestigious nature of what Arthur did. There usually wasn’t much room for companies to exploit people in Arthur’s position, but somehow it had happened. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He turned his computer off and rushed downstairs, finding Hunith and Merlin almost finished eating breakfast at the bar in the kitchen, an indication that they hadn’t expected Arthur to come down at all. He frowned a bit. Merlin usually called him down if he worked or slept through the beginning of a meal. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, I got caught up in something and didn’t notice the time. Why didn’t you call me down?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I figured I shouldn’t interrupt your work,” Merlin said in a bitter tone Arthur wasn’t sure he’d ever had directed at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hunith was glancing over at Merlin with a concerned expression. She would know that Merlin was never that bitter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You could have. I wasn’t doing anything I couldn’t stop,” Arthur said carefully as he dished himself up the last of the eggs and toast as well as a pastry or two that Hunith must’ve made earlier. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t realize you were able to stop working anymore.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And yeah, that hurt a bit. He wasn’t given the chance to respond, however, because Hunith interjected.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merlin!” She said sharply, “Don’t be rude! If you have a problem you boys need to talk about it, not go about passive-aggressively making hurtful comments to each other! You’re grown men, for god’s sake, you’re fully capable of having a civil conversation!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin hung his head a bit. Arthur looked down and swallowed. “It’s alright, Hunith. I’m sure he didn’t mean it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It doesn’t matter. I didn’t raise my son to be so mean to anyone, much less his own husband!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everyone was silent while they finished eating. Arthur was certainly going to stick to his plan of spending the morning with Merlin and Hunith, if only to show Merlin that he could, in fact, stop working for more than sleeping and eating. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur was the last one to finish eating, so he put his plate in the dishwasher and looked expectantly at the other two. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, what do you want to do before you leave, Hunith?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I just thought we could go out in the back and talk awhile, maybe spend some time working in the garden.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That sounds lovely. Why don’t we go out back, then?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin gave him an odd look, a mix of happiness and anger. Happiness, Arthur assumed, because he was glad that Arthur was taking a break from work to spend time with them, and anger because he was still upset with Arthur about working too much. Well, he’d take it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The back porch was large since they didn’t really have a patio. There was a large table for when they had friends over for meals and the weather was good. There was also a swinging bench situated towards one end of the porch, and in front of it was a set of three chairs and a little table. Hunith made her way over there, so Merlin and Arthur followed. Arthur heard the tell-tale ringing of Aithusa’s collar and she trotted over to them, sitting where she knew she would get pets. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hunith sat in the middle of the set of chairs and Arthur pulled Merlin onto the swinging bench with him. It was plenty large enough for the both of them, but Arthur pulled Merlin against him until Merlin was practically in his lap. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>This meant that Merlin had easy access to his ear, so Merlin turned and whispered, “I’m still mad at you, you know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know,” Arthur whispered back, “But you won’t be for long.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur, of course, was referring to his plan to get a new job, but Merlin didn’t know about that, so he must’ve thought Arthur was referring to his propensity to forgive Arthur for almost anything. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t count on it this time,” Merlin responded, then turned to face his mother, who had been trying not to listen to the exchange. Arthur, though, frowned, because he was pretty sure he’d done worse things than let his work temporarily take over his life before, and Merlin had forgiven him for it. Maybe he </span>
  <em>
    <span>had </span>
  </em>
  <span>let it get too bad. He refocused on the conversation, listening to Hunith talk about how life was in her village. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a while, Arthur went in to make some lemonade. It was hot out and their throats were getting dry from all the talking. He grabbed a pitcher, some powder mix—contrary to what Merlin thought, Arthur could make lemonade with actual lemons, but this was faster—and three cups. When he was ready to take it outside, he heard Merlin mention his name. Curious, Arthur lingered by the doorway to listen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Arthur woke up early to work on a Saturday, mum! It’s—I don’t even know what to do anymore, mum. I’ve tried talking to him. He only gets defensive. The only time he seems to feel bad is when I hurt him like he’s hurting me. I </span>
  <em>
    <span>know </span>
  </em>
  <span>it’s not right, mum, but it feels like it’s the only way I’m going to get him to fucking listen to me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merlin, you know Arthur is stubborn. You’ve got to give him some time. He couldn’t quit immediately anyway, even if he wanted to. He’d have to give his notice, and he’d be working the whole time. Besides, how long was this going on before you said anything? If you don’t tell him that something is wrong, he’s not going to automatically know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There wasn’t any time for me to tell him! He rushed through meals, went to bed after me, and didn’t spend any time with me outside of the kitchen or our bed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s no excuse and you know it. Now, I’m sure Arthur is almost done with the lemonade, so it’s best if we stop talking about him when he’s not here before he walks in on us. Now, dear, how are all your friends in the city?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur stood there for a moment longer. He really hadn’t realized how much his workaholism was hurting Merlin. After he heard that Merlin and Hunith were safely away from the topic of, well, himself, Arthur opened the door and returned to his seat on the bench, automatically pulling Merlin into the same position as he was before he left. Merlin was talking about Gwen’s recent promotion, so Arthur chimed in here and there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eventually, they ran out of things to talk about, so they moved to the garden, pulling weeds and picking ripe fruits in companionable silence. It was nice, Arthur admitted, to be out in the sun and not thinking about work. He wouldn’t be getting any calls, since most of his coworkers didn’t need to work on the weekend, so he was able to fully enjoy his time with his husband and mother-in-law. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a little after noon when Merlin said they should head inside to eat lunch. Lunch wasn’t to be a big affair, Hunith decided, just some sandwiches (which Arthur claimed were better than Merlin's, just to annoy him) and crisps with some leftover desserts. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>All too soon, it was time for Hunith to leave, so Merlin and Arthur gave her hugs and kisses on the cheek. Arthur let Merlin walk Hunith out to the car, where he saw the two having a whispered conversation. He had a feeling they were talking about him. He swallowed and went to put the desserts away. He heard the front door close a few minutes later. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Merry Christmas again :)<br/>Also a warning at this point: all of the job searching/applying stuff is BS and is super unrealistic lmao</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Arthur?” Merlin called, and Arthur could hear the frown in his voice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m in here,” Arthur called back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin walked into the kitchen a moment later. “I thought you might’ve gone back to work.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, not yet.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yet? Arthur, it’s Saturday. Why are you working?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I keep telling you, I have too much to do. It’s not gonna be like this for much longer, maybe a few weeks—” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A few weeks will turn into a few months, and then a few years, and by then you’ll be living in your fucking office, Arthur. Why you’re making us suffer for even a day longer when you have the power to quit right now is beyond me, but it’s starting to make me think that you care more about a job that takes advantage of you than me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, no. I love you, Merlin,” Arthur rushed forward to grab Merlin's hands. “I will always love you. I just—I don’t want to be rash about this. We can wait a little longer and see if it calms down, right? And if it doesn’t I’ll put in my notice, I promise.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And how long are you going to wait to see if it gets better? You keep saying </span>
  <em>
    <span>not that long, just a little bit longer, just wait a bit more</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Like I’m supposed to wait for my husband to actually act like a goddamn husband. We don’t wake up together, we don’t go to bed together, you rush through meals, we don’t spend any time together outside of meals on weekdays, and now your work is encroaching on the only time you weren’t working. Arthur, why can’t you see—” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin broke out into sobs. When Arthur tried to hug him, to comfort him, Merlin pushed him away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merlin, Merlin, I’m sorry. I’ll do better, I promise, darling. I’m sorry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur wasn’t emotional, but he did like to use pet names sometimes, and Merlin had mostly gotten used to it.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>For whatever reason, though, Arthur saying that pushed Merlin over the edge, because he pushed past Arthur and ran outside. Arthur didn’t try to follow. He knew it would only make things worse, and they’d talk more when Merlin had calmed down. Arthur sighed and figured he’d be productive while he waited for Merlin to come to him. He’d do a bit more job searching before going back to work for his actual job. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur was surprised by what the right Google search could bring you. He’d found and applied for a third position in an hour. It wasn’t exactly what he was doing now, but it required all the same skills and he wouldn’t need much training to get started. Curious, Arthur looked harder and found a few more job opportunities that required his skill set, even though they weren’t entirely related to what he had been doing. He applied for them all and hoped. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he checked the time, he saw that it was nearly four. He decided to put a hold on the job searching for a while. He’d wait for a week and if he hadn’t gotten even a phone interview, he’d look for more. Now, though, he had to buckle down and do some work. He’d done a lot less than he’d planned to with all the job searching, so he’d be up a lot later than he’d thought. He sighed. It seemed like he was getting less and less sleep every night. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He worked for what seemed like hours, and it was. When he next checked the time, it was nearly seven. Merlin either hadn’t made dinner or hadn’t seen fit to call him down for it. He decided he wasn’t hungry enough to check. Merlin would be upset in any case. He got up and stretched for a moment, then went back to work. He had so much to do still. He hated it, but he’d have to do more tomorrow, even if he stayed up tonight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Arthur finally made it to bed, it was just after one in the morning. He had to be up in four hours if he wanted to continue his new habit of waking up early to get any work done. Then he’d be able to go out in the afternoon to take their weekly ride...which Arthur had missed today. He wanted to hit himself. They very rarely missed their Saturday ride. When they did, it was usually because they were in the city for some reason or another. They’d not yet missed it while they were both home. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur showered and dressed quietly, rightly guessing that Merlin would already be asleep in their bed. It was one in the morning, after all. He didn’t attempt to cuddle like he had the other night. He just fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Merlin had never liked running out and crying like that. He was far more emotional than Arthur—Uther was a staunch believer that men shouldn’t have emotions other than anger—and he knew Arthur was never sure what to do when Merlin was properly upset like that. He always tried to use pet names when he apologized, but it usually only made things worse, reminded Merlin of how things were when they weren’t fighting. It was that more than the apologies that made him run out. He calmed down fairly quickly but was in no mood to try to have the same conversation he’d had with Arthur three times already again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Instead, he got the horses ready for some exercise. His chest hurt when he realized that normally Arthur would be with him, saddling Clementine for their weekly ride. He pushed it away. For all that he was upset with Arthur, he still had to care for the animals. By the time he had cooled them down and brushed them down, it was about four-thirty. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin finished up what he needed to, which wasn’t much, and went inside. He contemplated making dinner early or making something that’d take a while to cook, just to have something to do, but he decided against it. He wasn’t very hungry, even after the exercise with the horses, and Arthur was capable of making food if he wanted some. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin got ready for bed and got out a book to read for a few hours, going to sleep early, at about seven-thirty. He was vaguely aware of being woken up by the noise of Arthur coming to bed at some point in the night, but he’d no idea what time it was. It could’ve been a reasonable hour, but Merlin doubted it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur was actually still in bed when Merlin woke up. He could hear a buzzing that Merlin eventually realized was Arthur’s watch, which had a silent alarm so he could get up without waking Merlin up with a loud alarm. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Arthur,” Merlin whispered, shaking Arthur’s shoulder. “Wake up, your alarm’s going off.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur grumbled and shifted a bit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Arthur, come on. Get up.” Merlin shook his shoulder a little harder. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s it?” Arthur mumbled. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your watch has been buzzing for a few minutes. Your alarm.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur blinked. “Wha’s the time?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin glanced at the clock on the bedside table. “Just about six.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur didn’t respond immediately, processing what Merlin had said. “Six?” he repeated blearily. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mm.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shit! I was meant to wake up an hour ago!” Arthur exclaimed as he jumped up, apparently finally registering the time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t say anything, deciding it wasn’t worth the fight it’d cause this early in the morning. He watched as Arthur rushed to get dressed, fleeing the room and presumably shutting himself in his office. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin was surprised he’d slept so late himself, especially given when he’d gone to bed. He didn’t use alarms, since he never technically had to be up by any time, and he just woke up early on his own. He figured the previous day’s fight must have worn him out. He got himself ready at a more leisurely pace than Arthur had and started his morning as usual. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>By the time he was preparing omelets for the two of them, Merlin was growing frustrated again. He was certain the two of them could make it through this rough patch, but it didn’t make it any easier. He yelled up the stairs for Arthur to come down and eat, not expecting his husband to be down anytime soon. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was pleasantly surprised when Arthur was there within a few minutes. Arthur gave him a rushed kiss on the cheek that was just a tad on the forceful side and smiled giddily through the whole meal. Merlin watched him in silent contemplation, wondering what the reason could be for his new good mood. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Honestly, Merlin had no idea what could make Arthur so happy. It was as if he’d completely forgotten their whole fight. Unless he actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>had </span>
  </em>
  <span>forgotten their fight or had spontaneously come up with a solution he didn’t see fit to inform Merlin about, Merlin was at a loss. If he was being honest with himself, he was a bit hurt that Arthur could be so happy while all Merlin felt was hurt. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s got you so happy?” Merlin asked in the most nonchalant manner he could manage. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing much. I just got some good news from...work.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Work. Of course. So what was the news?”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“I have to go into the city for a few days and after that, it will only be a few more days of this and I’ll be free as a bird!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You never have trips into the city this sudden,” Merlin commented. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was a bit of an impromptu thing I arranged but it’ll allow me to work less after this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I guess I’ll have to get our things together then. When are we leaving?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Actually,” Arthur looked down, pushing some crumbs around his plate, “I was thinking I would go alone this time. It’s going to be a few days, and I won’t have much time to spend with you outside of work. I thought you might like to stay here because it’ll be so boring. There’s nothing we need to do in the city that I can’t do myself, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But we always go to the city together.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look, you like being here, right? And we’ve been fighting so much recently, we could both use the time to cool off.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, is that why you’re so happy about it? So you can get away from my horrible nagging?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur’s smile, which had been slowly getting smaller, disappeared, and he looked at Merlin properly, noticing the sour, hurt look on his face. “No, I’m happy about it because it means that I won’t have to work as much.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Will you really, though, Arthur? I know you didn’t use to work practically fifteen hours a day, but you did work more than a nine-to-five should ever have you work. You’re still going to be working a lot. Is that going to change, or are you going to slowly start working more and more until we’re back here again in a few months?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I promise with all my heart that I won’t work more than I’m supposed to. You can even turn the wifi off or something when it’s time. Is that enough?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine. But just to be clear, if I have to turn the wifi off to get you to stop working, I’m gonna stop making you dinner. Or food at all, for that matter.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Noted.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I still don’t understand why you don’t want me to come with you to the city,“ Merlin muttered as he got up to clear the dishes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah-ah,” Arthur said, taking the plates from his husband and placing them in the dishwasher himself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine. If I’m not going, when do </span>
  <em>
    <span>you </span>
  </em>
  <span>leave?” Merlin asked as Arthur straightened up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The day after tomorrow.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin nodded. “I’ll see if there’s anything we need from the city before you leave. How many days will you be staying?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Three, four if there’s any problems or if I need to spend a lot of time shopping.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright,” Merlin nodded. “I’ll see you later, then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur watched Merlin go into the backyard, feeling like he had been judged and found lacking. He sighed and went back to his office to accept the job interview he’d gotten. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was an in-person interview in the city. He’d gotten the offer a few minutes before he went downstairs for breakfast. It was for a well-paying job, similar to his current one, in a smaller company, so Arthur would hopefully have a bit more control over his work hours and have more time to spend with his husband. He knew he was a good candidate for the job—he had the right degree and loads of work experience, aside from the fact that there really just weren’t that many people who were qualified for the position. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He hadn’t wanted Merlin coming because then Merlin would know that Arthur wasn’t actually going in to work. He’d have the interview the first morning he’d be there, and if all went well, he’d know if he got the job by the end of his trip. Arthur was a bit surprised by the efficiency of their decision process, but he assumed that because it was a smaller business their hiring process would be different. It didn’t matter, because if he got it, he’d already be in the city to quit his current job, and then he could come home and surprise Merlin. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur spent that day, plus the next day and a half locked up in his office, finishing up anything he needed for work in case he did end up quitting and preparing himself for the interview. He knew Merlin was still upset that he was insisting on going alone, but Arthur promised himself he’d make it up to him with flowers and chocolate and sweets and, most importantly, time together. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d decided to leave after lunch since he wouldn’t have anything to do for the first half of the day anyway. Merlin brooded through breakfast and lunch, barely responding to Arthur’s attempts at normal conversation. Arthur hated it, but he told himself they could work on it after he got back, assuming he got the job. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they finished lunch, Arthur grabbed his bag and put it in the truck he was taking. He looked back at Merlin, who was silent in the doorway. Arthur walked back and hugged his husband, whose arms stayed wrapped resolutely around himself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bye, Merlin. I love you. I’ll be back in a few days,” he whispered into Merlin’s hair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bye, Arthur,” Merlin responded, voice tight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I promise I’ll make everything up to you when I get back, okay, love?” Arthur asked, pulling back and stroking his hand down Merlin’s cheek. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure, Arthur,” Merlin snorted, stepping back from Arthur’s embrace with wet eyes. “Uh, text me when you get there, okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course,” Arthur said, swooping in to give Merlin a kiss on the cheek and backing up toward the car. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He spent the drive thinking about Merlin’s face as he was leaving. He was sure he was making the right decision in getting a new job but he was conflicted about his idea to surprise Merlin with the new job. Perhaps it would’ve been better just to tell Merlin what he was planning? But it didn’t matter particularly now, he was pretty set in his path at this point. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>All he could hope is that Merlin would forgive him in the end. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Let me just reiterate that Arthur's job search is not meant to be realistic and I'm mostly making stuff up for it :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Merlin watched Arthur’s truck disappear through watery eyes. He didn't know why Arthur was so insistent on going alone. True, it may actually be so they could get a few days apart, but Arthur knew he loved their trips to the city, and it wasn’t like they were ever together at the house aside from meals anyway, so it didn’t seem like there was much point in Arthur’s being away for a few days anyway. Plus, Merlin knew Arthur. Arthur may be a good liar, but Merlin could usually tell when Arthur wasn’t telling him the full truth. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Arthur was </span>
  <em>
    <span>definitely </span>
  </em>
  <span>not telling him the full truth. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin wasn’t sure exactly what the full truth was, or why Arthur felt the need to hide it from him, but he was certain that Arthur was hiding </span>
  <em>
    <span>something </span>
  </em>
  <span>from him. And it could be that it wasn't bad. It could be a surprise Arthur was planning for him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But for some reason, Merlin doubted it. He’d spent too long getting ignored by his husband in favor of work as of late to believe that Arthur had all of a sudden decided he wanted to be romantic. Again, that didn’t mean whatever Arthur was hiding was bad, per se, but it also gave no credence to the thought that it would be good. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin sighed and moved on to his work for the day. It would be maybe the first time that he’d be having a meal by himself since he’d married Arthur. At least, the first time where Arthur wasn’t at least in the house somewhere. Maybe it </span>
  <em>
    <span>was </span>
  </em>
  <span>for the best that they had a few days apart—they rarely got out of the house except to go into town or the city, so they were always together. Maybe Merlin had projected his sour mood onto Arthur’s intentions and misread the situation. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>All of a sudden, Merlin felt horrible about how he’d said goodbye to Arthur. He hadn’t even told his husband “I love you” or given him a proper hug. What if something terrible were to happen to Arthur on his trip, and that was the last time he would ever see Arthur again? Merlin shook his head. Nothing would happen to Arthur, and he’d call in the morning to talk to him and maybe apologize. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Later, he got a text from Arthur, telling him that he was staying at Morgana’s flat and he was safely in the city for the night. Merlin acknowledged it, then started making himself dinner. While Merlin was washing the dishes after his dinner, his phone chimed with a text from Arthur. Once he got his hands dried off, he looked at it. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Hi, love. I’m going to go to bed early tonight. Gana fed me already, so we can talk tomorrow. Love you </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin’s heart jumped a bit as he read over the endearment. He knew Arthur was a pet-name person, and he should be used to them by now, but it seemed that it had been a while since he and Arthur had a casual enough conversation to use them outside of their earlier fight. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Love you too</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>He responded, setting his phone down. He’d call Arthur in the morning, then. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur woke up fairly late. He still had over an hour to get to his interview, which would be at ten-thirty, though, so he wasn’t rushed. Morgana’s flat wasn’t too far, and a taxi would be quick. He got up and stretched, meaning to get a solid breakfast down his throat before his interview. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he walked out into the kitchen, he found Morgana sitting there with a cup of coffee. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So where’s Merlin?” she asked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He didn’t come with me, obviously,” Arthur replied, pouring himself some coffee</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And why’s that?” Morgana prodded. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He didn’t need to,” Arthur said, taking out eggs and bread. “And we had a fight and I thought it might be for the best that we have a few days apart.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What were you fighting about?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My God, Morgana, can you not just leave it alone? I’m not talking to you about this right now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgana frowned. “Must be a bad one if you’re not willing to speak to your favorite sister about it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I told you to leave it alone. Right now, I need to eat and go—,” Arthur caught himself before he accidentally told his sister that he had a job interview, which he didn’t want her to know about. “Go to work. So if you’d be kind enough to not pester me about my marital problems, then I can eat my breakfast and be on my way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgana seemed to sense that he was in a very bad mood because she backed off and instead asked him how their little ranch was doing. After Arthur had cleaned his dishes up, he left to get dressed. He pulled a nice white button-up, a red tie (the one Merlin teased him was “Pendragon red”), some pressed black slacks, and a matching black blazer out of his suit carrier and put them on with some polished black shoes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Admittedly, his outfit was slightly more polished than anything he’d usually wear, but he didn’t think it would be enough to comment on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You got a hot date?” Morgana asked as he passed her on his way out of the flat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I’m going to work. These are work clothes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You look like you’re going somewhere much fancier than work. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear a </span>
  <em>
    <span>blazer </span>
  </em>
  <span>to work, and those shoes look like the ones you wore at your wedding.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“For fuck’s sake, Morgana, leave me alone. I’m going to work, they upped the dress code a bit since I last visited. Now, if you’re done commenting on everything in my life, I’ll be going.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With that, he stormed out of the flat to catch a taxi on the street below. Morgana wasn’t sure why, but she looked out her window to watch Arthur get into the taxi...which made the wrong turn at the first light it caught if it was meant to go to Arthur’s work. She was sure it couldn’t have been an odd route the taxi was taking, either, because there was no way to get to Arthur’s work going that direction that didn’t take you twenty minutes out of the way. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgana frowned. It was odd indeed, but Arthur may have had a point about her butting into his life today. It was his business, and even though it was weird, it probably didn’t mean anything. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>The taxi pulled up in front of the address he’d given the driver. He’d been told the office wasn’t a traditional office but was in a converted townhouse. Nobody lived there, but apparently, it was cheaper than regular office space. Some of the townhouses around them were actually lived-in homes, but this one was one of a few that the owners of the building had made smaller to expand surrounding homes but were no longer suitable to be rented out as livable spaces. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur double-checked the address in the email he was given, turned his phone off, then knocked on the door. He was greeted by a tall woman with curly black hair and ebony skin. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello! Are you Arthur?” The woman asked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur nodded. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wonderful! I’m Jasmine,” she said, shaking his hand. “You can come right up, we’re ready for you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lead the way,” Arthur said, gesturing for them to go in. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She led them up a small flight of stairs and into a decent-sized office with a large desk. Jasmine motioned for him to sit in one of the chairs in front of the desk, then left. A few minutes later, she returned with a shorter woman with short, softly curled brown hair and olive skin. Arthur had looked into the company and knew vaguely that both of these women were fairly high up in the company, but he hadn’t been sure exactly who would be interviewing him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m Alyssa,” the brown-haired woman introduced herself, and Arthur stood to shake her hand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two women took seats across the desk from him and briefly explained who they were in the company, as well as what his job would be. Arthur already knew a good chunk of what they were saying, but he listened regardless, wanting to make sure he didn’t miss any new information. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alrighty then, let’s proceed with the interview,” Alyssa smiled at him, then turned to Jasmine. “Would you pass me that file, love?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur was pretty sure he hadn’t managed to keep his face straight, his surprise showing through his professional mask, and he probably made some small noise of surprise. If he was honest, his surprise was at the actual term of endearment, not the relationship it implies. Merlin always teased him about being old-fashioned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was pretty certain this was their test to rule out bigots because the women made important-looking eye contact as Jasmine passed the requested file to Alyssa. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry,” Arthur smiled, wanting to reassure them that he was very much not homophobic, “It’s just, I never hear people calling their partners ‘love’. My husband always teases me about being old-fashioned when I use it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jasmine’s face broke into a wide smile as she turned back to him. Alyssa glanced at the wedding band on his left hand before giving him a small smile, file in hand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ll just get started, then,” Alyssa said, glancing at the file which Arthur recognized as his resume. She and Jasmine went back and forth, asking a few basic questions about his education and experience, why he’d be a good addition to their company, all the interview questions Arthur had been asked before. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now, why did you leave your last place of employment?” Jasmine asked, “I know we asked you in the online application, but people tend to expand a bit more in person.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, technically I’ve not yet left, but I’m leaving because if I’m honest, I was working far too much and I was expected to constantly be at work outside of working hours just because I worked from home and it’s put a strain on my marriage. My husband says I’m a workaholic, but the workload has been getting ridiculous.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jasmine nodded and made a note on her paper. “What do you define as ‘ridiculous’?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve probably been working more than eight hours a day since I started there, but I think lately I’ve worked up to fifteen or sixteen hours a day to keep up with what they were giving me, this big project.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They asked a few questions about why the work was taking up so much of his time—Arthur was pretty sure they wanted to suss out whether it was actually an unreasonable amount of work or if he was inefficient—and they moved on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once they concluded the interview, Arthur thanked them for their time and said his goodbyes. Then he caught a taxi to his actual office, thinking he might as well get some work done. He hopped in a taxi, not realizing his phone had fallen out of his pocket when he’d sat down for the interview. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Merlin knew Arthur would likely want to have time to settle into his workday before he got a call, so he resolved to call later in the morning. He ended up forgetting about the call until he went inside to clean up and start making lunch, just about eleven o’clock. He called Arthur, who didn’t answer. Merlin frowned, trying Arthur's number again. It went straight to voicemail both times, so either Arthur had poor service or he’d turned his phone off, which he rarely did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pulled up the tracking app that he and Arthur had for when they were in the city to make sure they were both safe. It would be able to tell him, however, if Arthur had turned his phone off or if his service was poor. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Clicking on Arthur’s phone, he waited for it to update Arthur’s location. It loaded for only a few seconds before telling him that Arthur’s phone last updated his location just a few minutes before ten-thirty. That meant that Arthur had purposefully turned his phone off. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wouldn’t have been entirely unusual if it weren’t for the time and location. Merlin looked closer at where it was. It looked like a residential area, as Merlin couldn’t see icons for businesses anywhere. He went and found the area on Google street view and, sure enough, it was a block of townhouses. Why would Arthur be there? It wasn’t anywhere near his work and wasn’t even on the way. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Unless…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin didn’t want to think about the thought that had just popped into his head, unbidden, but it was there nonetheless. The scary part was, it was logical in some ways. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur constantly being on his phone. Arthur constantly being locked up in his office for increasingly long periods of time. Arthur becoming snappy and closed off. Hell, Arthur going to bed late and getting up early. Arthur suddenly deciding he wants to go on a several-day trip to the city without his husband. Arthur going to bed early last night. Arthur not calling or texting him this morning, instead turning his phone off in the middle of some residential block. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin had never thought that Arthur would be the type to be unfaithful. He was loyal to a fault and was far too noble for his own good—he just couldn’t imagine that Arthur would ever cheat on him. But were those not all signs that an unfaithful partner would exhibit? He didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but he was adding everything up and it didn’t look good.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Deciding that there could be another completely reasonable explanation for it all, he called Morgana, in case she knew why Arthur was there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merlin?” She answered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi, Morgana,” he responded shakily. “Would you happen to know where Arthur went this morning?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He told me he was going to work,” She answered slowly. “Why do you ask?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I called him to talk, since we’ve kind of had a falling out, and it went straight to voicemail a few times, so I thought I’d better check if he didn’t have service or if his phone was off, and I saw that his phone was off and it’d last been in this block of townhouses a few blocks from your flat. I just was wondering if you knew why it would be there.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, like I said, he told me he was working today. Rather insisted on it, too. I did—well, I don’t mean to make you worry, but I did see his taxi going the wrong way this morning, and he was acting all defensive when I questioned why he was so dressed up and—I’m sure there’s a perfectly good reason for it all.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just—I don’t want to badmouth your brother, Morgana, but you don’t think he could be...cheating, do you? Because he’s been working so much and he’s always on his phone and he’s locked up in his office all the time and he goes to bed late and wakes up early and he’s been so withdrawn and snappy and I trust him but it just seems like there’s an awful lot of things that seem like unusual behavior for him…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgana frowned. “I don’t believe that Arthur would cheat on you, Merlin. But...I do see where you’re coming from. Look, tonight, I’ll talk to him and see if he fesses up about this morning and I’ll call you later. Will that put you at ease? Just don’t assume the worst of him, please, Merlin. He’s an idiot and could very well be completely oblivious about what everything looks like.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re right. He could be doing something special for me...but then why turn his phone off?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know, Merlin. I’ll talk to him and I’m sure he’ll come clean…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright. I’ll talk to you later, then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay. And don’t jump to any conclusions before then, alright?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right. Bye, Morgana.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bye, Merlin.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin sighed as he hung up. He’d really hoped that Morgana would know what was going on, but no such luck, of course. But Morgana was right—he shouldn’t just assume he knew what was going on, and Arthur did tend to be a bit oblivious when it came to things like not realizing it looked like he was cheating on his husband. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shook his head and got on with his day. Arthur would probably call him when he turned his phone back on and saw the missed calls. Merlin waited for the call through lunch, through his afternoon ride, and through his daily gardening. He was a little worried at this point. What if he’d got it completely wrong and Arthur was actually in trouble? Surely a cheating man wouldn’t be dumb enough to ignore calls from their partner the entire day…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He tried Arthur’s phone again as he sat down for dinner. Maybe he hadn’t seen the missed calls or hadn’t found a good opportunity to call him back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello?” A very not-Arthur voice answered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who is this?” Merlin asked, dread in his heart. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My name is Jasmine. Arthur left his phone here, I don’t have any other way to get ahold of him while he’s in the city. Do you know how I could let him know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh yeah,” Merlin answered, almost crying. “I can call his sister, if you like. He’s staying with her.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’d be wonderful. Thanks a ton!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, just to be clear, where’d he leave his phone?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, right. He left it in my office.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And your name is...Jasmine, you said?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yep. Thank you so much!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Goodbye then!” Jasmine said, and hung up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin took a breath, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. Arthur did need his phone, though, so he called Morgana. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merlin? I haven't had the chance to talk to Arthur yet, he’s not been home. What do you need?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just called Arthur,” he choked out, “and found out that he left his phone in the office of a woman named Jasmine. So if you could let him know—,” Merlin cut himself off. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, Merlin. There’s probably still some reasonable explanation for everything, like—well, I can’t think of one right now, but I just find it hard to believe that he’d be unfaithful. He’s not here yet, like I said, so maybe he’ll explain when I talk to him tonight. And besides, you said it was a woman, and Arthur’s gay, isn't he?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know, I thought he was, but he seems like he’s hiding an awful lot recently, so maybe he does like women after all.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merlin…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You have to admit, this looks suspicious, doesn’t it? And he looked like he was hiding something when he told me he wanted to take this trip. Why go this far to hide anything but an affair?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgana closed her eyes. “I admit, it doesn’t look good. But we don’t have any concrete evidence. If he continues to insist he was at work today, then we’ll go from there. But I don’t want you even thinking about it ‘til I call you back, okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. Alright. Goodbye.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bye, Merlin.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Like Morgana had told him to, he tried not to think about his husband’s potential infidelity and instead finished his dinner before showering with music blaring loud enough to prevent him from hearing his own thoughts. He crawled into bed with a book and waited for his phone to ring with Morgana’s call.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>As someone commented...it gets worse, but I promise it's gonna get better...eventually...</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Happy New Year y'all!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Arthur didn’t bother with lunch, working through it and getting in the zone for a few hours. Eventually, he noticed the time and realized it was probably time to head back to Morgana’s so he could eat dinner with her. He reached for his phone to call her, surprised he hadn’t gotten a call or text from her or Merlin the whole day before realizing he didn’t have it. Cursing himself, he remembered he’d left it off after his interview so any hope of finding it hinged on someone turning it back on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He hoped it would be somewhere in the office he’d had the interview, otherwise, he’d have to call Merlin and see if he could track it. But he didn’t want to call Merlin about it yet, figuring he’d see if it was with Jasmine and Alyssa. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leaving the office, he hailed a taxi and gave the approximate address. Remembering which door belonged to the office, he knocked. Jasmine answered, and when she saw it was him, she smiled. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, great! You’re back. Here, I've got your phone for you. Give me just a moment to pop up and grab it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With that, she left him standing on the porch as she disappeared into the converted townhouse. He waited there for a moment, debating whether or not to step inside before Jasmine returned, phone in hand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Here you are!” She announced, holding his phone out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you so much,” he said, taking the phone, “Sorry for leaving it here. I’m always on the thing, don’t know how I managed to go the day without realizing I’d left it here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was no problem at all! I’m glad you’ve got it back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right. Well, uh, thanks for this,” he held up his phone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re welcome.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, bye,” He nodded politely at her before stepping back and turning toward the street to get a taxi to Morgana’s flat. He looked through his phone and saw a few missed calls from Merlin earlier that morning during his job interview. He decided to call his husband back once he was in bed for the night to say goodnight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As he used his extra key to get into Morgana’s flat, he smelled onion and garlic and hoped Morgana had started on dinner. He had thought to cook for her tonight, or at least pay for delivery, but Morgana was a good cook so he wasn’t about to complain.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Arthur?” She called from the kitchen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I’m here,” Arthur called back, going to meet her in the kitchen. He leaned against one of the counters, setting his phone down next to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How was your day?” She asked, a strange smile on her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uneventful, I suppose. What about yours?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uneventful as well. Just talked to Merlin a bit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And what did you two talk about?” Arthur asked, raising an eyebrow. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think that’s actually any of your business,” Morgana said, raising a formidable eyebrow back at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright,” Arthur conceded. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you just worked today? Didn’t go out or do anything else?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I just went to the office. Skipped lunch too, actually, so when’s that gonna be ready?” He asked, pointing to the pan of meat and veggies with his chin.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fifteen to twenty minutes. And actually, Merlin and I were wondering what you were going to do to make up for being such a horrible husband when you get back like you said you would.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I haven’t been—” Arthur cut himself off, because he really had been a horrible husband lately. “I haven’t thought about what I’ll do yet.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No surprise planned? You’re not planning to whisk Merlin off to some private tropical island when you get back?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, Morgana, I’ve got to work too much—” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is that really the excuse you want to use right now?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, fine. No, I haven’t planned anything. Suggestions are welcome.” Arthur wasn’t sure why he didn’t tell Morgana about his plan to get a new job. Then she’d stop grilling him and would maybe even reassure Merlin that Arthur’s trip was actually going to end in something positive. But for whatever reason, he didn’t want to tell her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgana hummed and went back to their meal. Arthur slipped into the guest room to change into more comfortable clothes while she finished. He and Morgana chatted for a few minutes before she dished up some food for the both of them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They ate in mostly silence, the clinking of silverware of plates loud in the large dining room. Arthur offered to clean up for dinner, so he did the dishes while Morgana turned on the TV in the other room. When he was done, he announced that he was going to go take a shower. Morgana murmured her acknowledgment, keeping her eyes on the screen. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>It was shortly after seven-thirty when Merlin’s phone started buzzing. He hurriedly picked it up, only glancing at the screen to confirm it was Morgana. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello?”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“So I talked to Arthur,” Morgana said instead of greeting him, “and he says he has no surprise planned for you when he gets home and he was in the office all day, including lunch. He just got in the shower, but he came home with his phone, so I didn’t ask him about the woman who had it. He must’ve grabbed it sometime on his way home.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just want to know what he’s lying for. Even—even if he is having an affair, I wish he’d just come clean about instead of lying to the both of us. At least then I wouldn’t have to wonder.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgana’s heart went out to her brother in law. “I know. I don’t know how we can know for sure at this point, either, unless he starts telling us the truth. Maybe I can suggest he go out with our friends tomorrow and we’ll see if he’s saving it for a big announcement?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe. Look, I’m gonna go. Let me know if anything else happens. And I don’t know that I really want to talk to Arthur tonight, so tell him not to worry when I don’t pick up.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course. And Merlin, I’m so sorry you have to worry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks, Morgana. Goodnight.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Goodnight,” she whispered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>While Arthur was still in the shower, she called Gwen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s up?” Gwen asked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s Merlin and Arthur. Well, Arthur,” Morgana answered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What's wrong?” Gwen asked, worry in her voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merlin’s afraid Arthur is cheating,” Morgana said frankly, “and I haven’t been able to provide any evidence to the contrary. Merlin says Arthur’s been working a lot, going to bed late and waking early, always on his phone, he’s generally distant and snappy, and then he suddenly decides to go take a several-day trip here to work and insists that Merlin not come with him, and Merlin got the feeling he was hiding something about the trip. This morning, Arthur was weirdly dressed up for a normal day at work and he was strangely insistent that he was going to work today. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then I see his taxi going the opposite direction from his work and Merlin calls me later, saying Arthur’s turned off his phone in the middle of a residential block and neither of us knew why he’d be there. Later, Merlin tried Arthur’s phone again and this woman neither of us knew answered, saying he’d left his phone in her office. Merlin called me so I could tell Arthur, but when Arthur got home he’d already gotten his phone back. He also told me he was at work the entire day. I don’t suppose you can explain any of that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, dear…” Gwen breathed. “No, I’m afraid I can’t explain any of it. I can’t see Arthur ever cheating on Merlin, but when you lay it all out there, it does seem like it, doesn’t it? Have you or Merlin actually asked about any of this?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No. I don’t think Merlin’s even thought of it and I don’t want to scare him off or make him even more defensive if he actually is cheating. I told Merlin that I’d watch Arthur and tell him if anything happens. I was hoping we could get everyone together for dinner tomorrow and maybe try to weasel it out of him. Arthur insists he’s not got a surprise planned to make up for working so much lately, and I’m inclined to believe him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see,” Gwen said, and Morgana could imagine the furrow in her brow. “Well, I’ll try to work on getting everyone together tomorrow. You work on trying to figure out what’s up with Arthur. If there’s anything I can do…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know, Gwen. Thank you. Arthur’s probably just about out of the shower, so I have to hang up, but let me know how getting everyone together goes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Goodnight.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Night,” Gwen responded, ending the call. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgana sighed, turning the TV off and going to her room. There seemed to be nothing she could do for tonight, so she decided just to go to bed. She heard Arthur turn the shower off and saw the lights in the flat go out from underneath her door. She grabbed a book and sat on her bed. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Arthur got out of the shower, intending to call Merlin as soon as he was dressed. He got dried off and dressed, then turned the lights off everywhere except his bedside table and grabbed his phone, dialing Merlin’s number by heart. He waited while it rang...and rang...and rang. He then got Merlin’s voicemail.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He hung up before the beep and tried again with the same result. When it happened a third time, he left a message telling Merlin that he loved him and missed him and he’d make sure to call the next day. With that, Arthur laid down and tried to get some sleep. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the morning, Arthur decided he’d use the morning to go buy some of the things Merlin had told him they needed. While he ate breakfast, he pulled the list up on his phone and thought about what stores he’d need to visit and in what order. While he was thoughtfully chewing on his toast, Morgana walked in. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How’d you sleep?” she asked, pouring herself some coffee. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well enough, I suppose. I think Merlin was ignoring my calls last night.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Morgana said, taking some bread out for toast, “I forgot to tell you. Merlin mentioned yesterday that he was having an early night last night. He was probably just asleep.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“When’d he tell you that?” Arthur asked, hurt that his sister had probably talked to his husband before he’d gone to bed and he hadn’t had the chance. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“When we talked yesterday. He said he wasn’t feeling well and that he’d be going to bed early.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is he alright?” Arthur asked, frustrated that he was getting news about his husband’s well-being from Morgana and not Merlin. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’ll be fine.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Just a bit under the weather is all. Now, what are you up to today?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I figured I’d do some of the shopping I need to do this morning, then go to the office after lunch.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgana hummed, her toast popping up. “Why don’t I come with you while you shop? What do you need?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just some stuff for around the house. Things we can’t or don’t want to get delivered, the usual. And you don’t have to come with me. I’m a big boy, I can manage on my own.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I want to come with you. You know I love shopping. Plus, maybe we can get something for Merlin. You know, as part of the surprise you’re definitely coming home with as an apology.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You just want me to spend my money on you,” Arthur laughed. “I guess I could use some help finding something for Merlin.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Great!” Morgana beamed, “then it’s settled. Where’re we going first?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As they talked, Morgana wondered about Arthur’s easy agreeance. It would’ve been hard to hide if he hadn’t been genuinely shopping for at least part of the time. If Arthur was truly having an affair, he wasn’t planning to meet the woman this morning. He could be lying about the office later, though. She’d keep an eye on him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur dressed in casual clothes, saying he’d come back to the flat to change after lunch, and they set off. They get almost everything on Arthur’s list, and Morgana arranges for a very large teddy bear and chocolates to be sent to Merlin while Arthur was still in the city. Arthur almost objected, but Morgana thought Merlin would absolutely love it, so he dutifully provided his credit card when it came time to pay. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They find a nice restaurant to eat at and catch up over lunch, then go back to the flat so Arthur can change. While he’s there, he decides to call Merlin. Finally, Merlin answers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merlin?” Arthur says hopefully when it stops ringing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi, Arthur,” Merlin replies tiredly, and Arthur thinks of what Morgana said about Merlin feeling poorly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you alright, love? Morgana said you weren’t feeling the best. Did you get a good night’s sleep?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m fine, Arthur. Just, uh, tired, I suppose. Maybe I slept a bit too much.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you sure? Have you had a rest, drunk some tea?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I have. I’m fine. I am capable of taking care of myself.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I think that’s debatable…” Arthur tried to jest, but the joke fell flat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look, I’ve said I’m fine and I really am very tired so I think I’m going to go. I’ll see you in a few days, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right. I love you Merlin, and I miss you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love you too. Bye,” Merlin said, ending the call. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur felt like he’d missed something. That hadn’t seemed like Merlin at all. But maybe it was just because he was tired. And still upset with Arthur. Arthur figured he’d leave it alone. Getting involved would only make it worse, he figured. Shaking his head, he got dressed in his normal work clothes—more casual than what he’d worn to the interview, as he’d forgotten to keep up the lie he’d told Morgana about the dress code changing. He bid goodbye to Morgana and got a taxi to his office for the rest of the day. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgana noted that Arthur’s attire was different than it was the day before—both work attire, but this felt distinctly more casual, more like what Arthur usually wore to the office, she thought. Curious, she went to the window to see which way Arthur’s taxi went. Sure enough, his taxi was going the correct direction to his office. But they already knew he’d lied about where he was yesterday, this only confirmed it and meant that he wasn’t lying about where he was going today. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t really worth calling Merlin over, but she thought she’d call him anyway and catch up about other stuff, too. They ended up talking for hours, only stopping when Gwen called with plans to drag Arthur out with their friends for the evening. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Indeed, when Arthur came home, it was to have a t-shirt and jeans shoved into his chest and directions to get changed because they were going to the pub. Arthur let himself get pulled into her plans, not realizing that of course she’d have planned something with their friends. Unfortunately, by the time he realized it, they were already there and his friends had seen him, so he couldn’t leave. He loved his friends, but he didn’t want questions about his fight with Merlin or the looks he knew he’d get for not bringing Merlin with him. Sighing, he followed Morgana over to the table, hugging and shaking hands and receiving claps on the back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He noticed eventually, though, that everyone kept looking around, especially towards the entrance to the restaurant. Everyone except Morgana, and, oddly, Gwen. Soon enough, Gwaine seemed to get tired of craning his neck to look at the door and finally asked where Merlin was. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not here,” Arthur responded, still unsure of how to explain why Merlin wasn’t with him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well I can see that, princess,” Gwaine said using an old nickname. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Why</span>
  </em>
  <span> isn’t he here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s back at home. He didn’t come with me to the city.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why not?” Gwaine pressed. He’d become fast friends with Merlin when Arthur had introduced them, so he was always up for what he called “quality Merlin time”. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He didn't need to come with me and we’re in the middle of a fight so I thought we’d cool off with a few days apart while I was in the city.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur noticed that everyone was looking at him as if he’d grown two heads. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? Me and Merlin fight, all couples do, it’s not that big of a deal!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s a pretty big deal when you don’t bring him to the city with you for the first time since you moved out there,” Lancelot pointed out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, we’ve never been in the middle of a fight when I needed to go to the city, have we?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, you have,” Leon interrupted. “When you came to pick out new porch furniture after your original set was ruined by that one bad storm. You were arguing about what kind of furniture you needed and whether or not you should look into making a better patio in the back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur did remember that, but it had been such a petty argument that he barely considered it a fight—it was barely a squabble compared to what they were fighting about now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sighed. “This is a much bigger fight. It’s not going to get resolved easily and I thought maybe some space was what we needed, okay? Once we’ve had time to think about it we can come back to it and talk rationally. Now, can we get off of the fact that Merlin isn’t here please? I’d like to think of something else for a change.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leon raised his hands in surrender and Elyan started the conversation off by talking about this girl he’d gone on a date with. Conversation flowed from there, and Arthur released a lot of the tension he’d been holding for the past few days. It </span>
  <em>
    <span>was </span>
  </em>
  <span>nice to not be thinking about their fight for once. He didn’t notice, however, the way Morgana and Gwen were watching him, as if at any moment he would jump up and announce he’d killed someone. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Gwen listened to what Arthur was saying about his work closely, trying to see if there was something else off about his demeanor that could indicate a secret. She noticed he didn’t look happy when talking about his work, but also looked almost as if he was in a far off world at the same time. He had his phone on the tabletop, face down. Important enough to keep at hand but he didn’t want others to see if anything—or anyone—popped up on his phone?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe she was reading too much into it. Maybe. Perhaps he’d done that without thinking—or perhaps it was a practiced habit to prevent others—Merlin?--from seeing his notifications. She didn’t want to think like that, so she gave him the benefit of the doubt and filed that information away for later. Nothing else about Arthur’s demeanor—except that he was infinitely more relaxed when they weren’t talking about Merlin—indicated anything out of the ordinary. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gwen did notice, however, when Arthur’s phone started to buzz with a phone call and Arthur tried to shield the screen from view while seeing who it was—Gwen could only tell that it was an unsaved number—before excusing himself to the restroom so that he could take the call. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before Gwen could pipe up that she suddenly had to go to the bathroom, Morgana did. They met eyes across the table as Morgana slid out of her chair, following behind enough to not tip Arthur off. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Just btw I'm running out of chapters I already have written (I'm gonna try and get a few more written tomorrow but we'll see...) and school is starting up again this week so updates will likely be getting even more sporadic so apologies in advance for this happening right as we get into the thick of the plot lol. Happy 2021 to you all!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Arthur picked up the phone and, seeing that it was a number he recognized as the company he’d been interviewed for yesterday. He was surprised at both the hour (about six-thirty) and the short amount of time since his interview. He quickly left for the bathroom so he could have this conversation somewhere semi-quiet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello?” He said as he answered the call a few tables away from the bathrooms. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi, Arthur. This is Jasmine. I’m calling to let you know that you got the job!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really?” Arthur asked, smiling wildly. He’d liked this company, liked the atmosphere Alyssa and Jasmine had set, had liked a lot of things about it. Alyssa had gone over some more details about pay and benefits in the interview, and he’d liked almost everything she’d said—more so than his previous job, by far. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yep. If you want, you can come by tomorrow morning to have a look at the contract and we can talk a bit more about your job.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes! I’ll be there first thing tomorrow morning.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Perfect! I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Great. Thank you so much, Jasmine. I’ll see you then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bye. Have a good night.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You too. Bye.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur hung up and smiled like a loon. He was proud of himself. He felt like he’d proved himself—to himself and to Merlin, though Merlin didn’t know it yet. He’d go to the office in the morning and work out the last few details of his contract and with any luck he’d be unemployed and re-employed by the time he got back to Merlin. All that was left was to quit his job, but that could wait until after he’d met with Jasmine or Alyssa, just in case something came up and he decided not to accept the job. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As he walked back to the table, he went slowly and tried to lessen his smile so he didn’t get questions when he went back to the table—he didn’t want his friends to know before he told Merlin. He’d tell Merlin the moment he got back. For the moment, though, he would catch up with his friends and be content to live in the moment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sat back at the table and tried to act as normal and casual as possible. Again, he didn’t notice Gwen and Morgana exchanging looks, nor did he think it odd when the two women excused themselves to the restroom at the same time, despite the odd looks they were given by the rest of the table.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgana listened to the conversation and watched Arthur’s face throughout. Arthur was smiling like a madman right off the bat. She’d seen him smile like that before, sure, but never when he wasn’t around Merlin. She’d almost thought that that smile was reserved for Merlin when he told Arthur that he loved him or that he was proud of him or generally gave him praise. It was so odd to see it on him now, on a phone call with someone who wasn’t Merlin by a bathroom that was a hundred-odd miles from Merlin. Something was wrong, she could tell. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then, he told the person on the other side of the phone—she didn’t want to assume it was the woman who had had his phone the other day, but she wouldn’t have been surprised—that he would meet them first thing in the morning. Again, she tried to give him the benefit of the doubt before he said goodbye to the woman—she knew now that it was Jasmine, the same woman who Arthur had seen the first day he’d been in the city. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wasn’t quite sure what he was thanking her for, but it could’ve been any number of things. It wasn’t concrete evidence, of course, but it was all just too sketchy to rely on the benefit of the doubt any longer. Morgana was certain he’d continue to lie to everyone, as well. She could tell that the call was drawing to an end, so she quickly snuck back to her seat, taking a direct but slightly hidden route back to the table to make sure she was there before Arthur was. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gwen looked at her questioningly and Morgana just gestured for her to stop, as Arthur was coming back. Once Arthur was at the table and didn’t seem to indicate that he’d seen his sister there, Morgana excused herself to the restroom and Gwen followed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What was the call about?” Gwen asked once they were safely ensconced in the women’s restroom. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t hear enough to know. It was short and it seemed like the woman on the other end did most of the talking, but it was the same woman who had Arthur’s phone the other day.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How do you know?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He said her name. And he’s going to see her tomorrow morning. He thanked her for something, he didn’t say what, but there’s all sorts of things you could thank your affair partner for, isn’t there?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I suppose…” Gwen said, chewing her lip. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Plus—you know that goofy smile Arthur always gives Merlin when they’re all lovey-dovey?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gwen nodded. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He had that smile. Right after the woman spoke, he started smiling like that. I’ve not seen him smile like that when he wasn’t with Merlin or thinking about him. I’m not seeing another explanation for this. An emotional affair, at least. Maybe he doesn’t even realize what he’s doing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you think that could be it? He’s having an emotional affair without even knowing it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe. Look, I’ll call Merlin tomorrow and tell him what happened and he can choose what to do with it. We can wait to see if there’s anything more that confirms or denies what we think or Merlin can take it at face value. Regardless, I will be watching Arthur very carefully the rest of his stay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gwen nodded and they returned to the table. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The rest of the dinner went fairly normal—no one mentioned Merlin’s absence and Arthur seemed to be enjoying himself. He did look a bit guilty every time someone mentioned Merlin—just because his absence wasn’t mentioned didn’t mean he wasn't mentioned at all—which made Morgana suspicious, but that could be chalked up to him feeling guilty for leaving Merlin at home. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When everyone was properly tipsy and full, they said their goodbyes, and Arthur and Morgana made their way home in a cab. Arthur fell into bed right away when they got into Morgana’s flat and passed out. Morgana had the energy to shower and then she was off to bed as well. Before she fell asleep, she put her alarm on for early the next morning, thinking maybe if she was up before Arthur she could catch him doing something. She wasn’t sure what, but she’d figure it out. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>The next morning Morgana woke up to her alarm and heard the shower going—Arthur was up early to shower, then. She briefly thought about trying to find his phone to go through his messages but thought better of it, thinking it was too much of a risk if he caught her. Oh well. She could still eavesdrop to see if he made another call. And maybe she could follow him if he wasn’t heading to work again this morning. Yes, that would work just fine. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She dressed quietly while she waited for Arthur to get out of the shower. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a few minutes of sitting quietly on her bed, Morgana heard the shower turn off. Quickly and quietly, she made her way to the closed door of his bedroom, trying to assume a position that she could pass off as casual if she misheard her brother’s footsteps and he came out of the room before she could leave. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgana heard nothing but footsteps and the opening and closing of wardrobe doors and drawers for the first few minutes. Soon, however, she heard him speak. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi, Jesse—” that was the name of Arthur’s boss, why was he calling his boss? “—I’m calling to let you know that I am resigning from this position. I’ll send my official letter of resignation to you later today.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a pause that Morgana assumed was Jesse responding. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m quitting because this job was ruining my marriage and was too big of a workload for one person to handle. Consider hiring two people to replace me so the next poor soul you hire doesn’t quit for the same reason I did.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Another pause. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Honestly Jesse, I don’t particularly care that you’ll be screwed if I leave. You managed to screw me over pretty well while I still worked for you and turnabout’s fair play, is it not? Goodbye.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgana heard footsteps going toward the door and quickly dashed across the hall into her own room just in time to hear the door to Arthur’ room open. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Why the fuck was Arthur quitting his job? As far as she knew, he hadn’t said anything to anybody about quitting. And he’d said the job was ruining his marriage, but at the moment she was fairly certain that Arthur himself was ruining his own marriage well enough. She waited a few more minutes to exit her own room and join him in the kitchen, grabbing herself a cup of coffee. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you planning on going to work today, Arthur, or do you have anything else to do around the city?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just work, I think,” Arthur answered, sipping his coffee. </span>
</p><p>
  <span> “Mm. And have you figured out what you’re going to do for Merlin?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Actually, I’ve done it already,” Arthur said with a smile. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh? And what have you done?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s a secret,” Arthur winked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You won’t even tell your favorite sister? To make sure you aren’t being a pig-headed idiot?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re my only sister, Morgana.” Arthur rolled his eyes. “And I still won’t tell you. I don’t want you to spoil it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I would never spoil my favorite brother-in-law’s present.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m still not telling you, ‘Gana. You can hear all about it from Merlin when I te— give it to him. Tomorrow night.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you’re leaving tomorrow, then?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yep. I think I’ll leave after lunch. Have lunch with you, maybe, and head home.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sounds grand,” Morgana said, struggling to produce a genuine smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arthur eyed her oddly before going to set his dishes in the sink. Morgana sat back with her coffee as she heard Arthur returning to his room, probably to get dressed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was resolved to follow Arthur to see where he was going—since it obviously wasn’t his job—and perhaps even find out who this Jasmine woman was. She was glad she’d taken this week off of work when Arthur had told her he was coming. She’d expected to use her days off to hang out with her brother, not to spy on him, of course, but that was beside the point. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Arthur came out of his room and announced he was going to head to work, Morgana stood and said she needed to do some shopping so she’d head down with him to catch her taxi. Arthur looked nervous but only nodded as they caught the elevator down together. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Posting a chapter like 6 hours early today lmao. Also this story was definitely inspired by this tumblr post</p><blockquote class="reddit-card">
  <p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/tumblr/comments/i5uxgy/miscommunication/">Miscommunication</a> from <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/tumblr">r/tumblr</a></p>
</blockquote>bc I thought it would be funny to write a story where pretty much 100% of the plot is because of miscommunication lmao (and I tried to put a link in there but I honestly have no clue if it's going to work and it's a reddit link bc that came up on google images when I was trying to find the post and i went with it)
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter 15</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So I'd like to start off by saying sorry for dipping for a week, shit was crazy. School started, got stuck with babysitting, there was a fucking attempted coup (literally wtf??), and overall just didn't have any time or energy to write. I'm not entirely sure if shit is gonna be less crazy any time soon, but hopefully, soon I'll be able to write on the weekends even if I can't during the week bc of school, but honestly, I don't know, so update frequency will be drastically reduced and will likely be extremely sporadic for a while. The good news is that I don't think there are that many chapters left in this one so it won't really be a problem for long lol.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Morgana let Arthur get his taxi first but caught one right after, keeping an eye on Arthur’s taxi to follow it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where’re you going?” the taxi driver asked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi. Can you follow that taxi? The one the blonde man just got in, up there?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Miss—” the driver started. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please. I think he’s cheating, I just want to know where he’s going. And I’ll add on twenty pounds.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright,” the driver said, pulling out into traffic. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgana had managed to keep track of her brother’s taxi, pointing it out when the driver lost it while paying attention to traffic. Eventually, Arthur’s taxi pulled over in front of a block of townhouses. Morgana instructed her driver to pull over a few houses away from the one Arthur was walking up to. She noted the number of the house Arthur was currently walking into. She watched as he knocked and was greeted and let into the house by a woman with brown hair. Jasmine, she assumed. She hoped perhaps there was another explanation for why Arthur was meeting some random woman multiple times in her home and lying about it, but she just couldn’t see one. Her head thumped back against the headrest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m real sorry, miss…” the driver started. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgana snorted. “It’s not me he’s cheating on. I’m his sister. It’s his bloody husband he’s hurting.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The driver didn’t seem to know what to say to that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why don’t you take me back to where you picked me up at.” Morgana repeated her address for the driver and then they were off. Morgana shakily dialed her brother-in-law’s phone number. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Merls,” Morgana greeted. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin had been a wreck since he’d gotten the first call from the Jasmine woman. Despite her promise to keep him updated, he hadn’t heard much from Morgana and the not knowing was really getting to him. He’d done the bare minimum of his chores at home, not keeping up his garden or playing with Aithusa and Kilgharah. Instead, he’d laid on the couch or his bed morosely and curled up with one or both of them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had his phone with him constantly now, waiting for a call or text from his sister-in-law. He was sitting in his bed with Aithusa’s head in his lap when he got a call from Morgana—finally. He sat up straighter, disrupting Aithusa’s head, flailing for his phone.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Morgana?” Merlin answered quickly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey Merls,” Morgana answered with a tremble in her voice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What—what’s wrong?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t want it to be true, but I don’t know of any other plausible explanation for what’s happened but—well, I think perhaps I should just tell you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What happened?” Merlin asked again, tears falling slowly down his face as he guessed what she was about to tell him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“When we went out to dinner with everyone, he didn’t seem to want to talk about you and it seemed like he was guilty, but I thought that could’ve been just him finally realizing how stupid it was to leave you behind. But then he got a call. I followed him and he told Jasmine, that woman who had his phone, that he would meet her somewhere this morning. And when I looked at him, he had that stupid smile he always looks at you with when he was talking to her. So I got up early this morning to try and see if I could catch him at something and I heard him call his boss, Jesse.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why—” Merlin interrupted. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He quit his job,” Morgana continued, “He told Jesse he was quitting. I don’t know why. So I asked him at breakfast if he was going to work and he said he was. Obviously, I knew he was lying because he just quit his job. So I followed his taxi just now and he went to that same block you saw his phone at the other day and there was a woman there who answered the door. I’m heading back to my flat right now. I’m so sorry, Merlin.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s, well, I suppose it’s not alright, is it?” Merlin answered through his tears. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you want to do? Do you want to talk to him or confront him?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I—I don’t know. Can you call me later? I think I just want to think for a bit. But please call me, I don’t think I’ll remember.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course,” Morgana promised softly. “I’ll keep an eye on Arthur, see if there’s any other explanation that we’ve missed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think there will be.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m afraid you might be right,” Morgana sighed. “I’ll call you later, Merls. Bye.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bye, ‘Gana.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin went to grab the chocolate and teddy bear that had arrived the day before. The chocolates went into the trash and he started to try to rip the teddy bear to shreds. He failed to do more than rip a few seams before he gave up and grabbed a kitchen knife to stab it with. Stuffing flew all over the kitchen. Merlin decided he couldn’t care less. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Involuntarily, his mind ran through all the different reasons for Arthur’s behavior, but he just couldn’t think anything else was true—for nothing less than infidelity would he lie this much. If it was anything else he would’ve at least told Morgana about it, surely? Despite that Arthur would deny it if ever asked, he loved his sister and trusted her—if it wasn’t bad, why wouldn’t he trust her enough to tell her?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And what really hurt was that Arthur had refused to quit his job for Merlin, despite his begging and begging, but Arthur had no problems quitting after a few days in the city with some random woman. Some random woman who Arthur smiled at like he used to smile at Merlin, according to Morgana. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“FUCK!” Merlin screamed. When he’d finished, he collapsed to the ground, shaking with tears that Aithusa was soon there to lick away.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merin sat there for a while crying. He wasn’t sure how long. Soon he ran out of tears and just sat there with Aithusa next to him feeling sorry for himself. Eventually, he knew he needed to get up so he went outside and took Marmelade out for a hard ride. When he knew he had reached the horse’s limits, he took Clementine out for a ride, too. He cleaned up from their ride just about lunchtime. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he got inside he found he had a few missed calls from Morgana. He realized he hadn’t had his phone with him on his ride so he couldn’t answer her calls. He was feeling better, though so he called her back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merlin?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, sorry, I was out for a ride and forgot you were supposed to call me. I’m feeling better. I don’t think I want to see him, though. Not for a few days, til I get my head straight. I think maybe I’ll go to Ealdor, see Will. Not my mum, though—she’ll want me to be reasonable about it and talk to Arthur, I’m sure. Will’ll let me be.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “Before you go, I want to check that we’re not just jumping to conclusions. This morning, Arthur told me he’d already gotten you something to make up for being horrible to you recently, so I thought maybe that woman and quitting his job had something to do with it. I mean, he could’ve quit his job and thought that would suffice as his present and the woman could be completely unrelated, and he could still be having an affair, but it’s about lunchtime, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes...Morgana, where are you going with this?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was thinking that you could tell me where Arthur was and if he’s out at lunch I might be able to see what he’s up to. This just seems so unlike Arthur…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Morgana, he quit his job and lied about it despite the fact that I’ve been telling him to quit for ages. He’s lied so many times to both of us. Even if he couldn’t tell me, why wouldn’t he tell you? If it wasn’t bad why wouldn’t he tell you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Morgana was silent for a moment. “I don’t know. But what if it isn’t bad? What if we made one too many assumptions? Maybe I’ll find something that proves he’s not cheating on you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe...” Merlin drags out, “Alright, I’ll send you his location in a moment. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt just this once because I really, really don’t want it to be true.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s great, Merlin. Just be hopeful.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. Okay, I’ll text you where he’s at in a minute. Bye.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bye, Merlin.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With that, Merlin hung up and went to the tracking app on his phone. He didn’t even bother trying to figure out where it was, just sent Morgana a screenshot of where it said Arthur was and put his phone away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was really, really hoping that this had all been a big misunderstanding. Even if that thought was horrible, too, because it meant that he had been ready to assume that his supposedly faithful husband of three years had cheated on him. Why was that? The evidence was suspicious, of course, and they’d not yet gotten concrete proof that Arthur wasn’t cheating yet, but it wasn’t like they’d caught him in bed with someone else or proposing to this other woman, if the affair had been going on as long as Merlin thought it could have been—months, at least, since Arthur started drawing away from him, supposedly in favor of his work. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So there was no concrete evidence either way. So why had Merlin assumed Arthur was cheating? He’d never been cheated on in the past, nor had Merlin himself ever cheated, so this was coming from somewhere else. Merlin sat there and tried to avoid the dangerous path he was going down with this line of thought. It wasn’t even worth pursuing until after Morgana called, maybe with concrete evidence, right? If it turned out Arthur wasn’t cheating, then he could examine those thoughts a little closer, but if he was, then he was justified anyway and he needn’t think about it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Merlin resolved to try not to think about Arthur at all until he got something from Morgana, which was easier said than done. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was barely half an hour before his phone chimed with an incoming message from Morgana. He took a steadying breath before opening it. When he registered what the picture was of, his phone slipped from his hand and his heart hurt as a tear made its way down his cheek. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was probably about the most solid proof he’d ever get without finding Arthur in bed with this other woman. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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